A retired Permanent Secretary in Grenada has called on the Public Service Commission (PSC) to put in place a Monitoring and Evaluation structure to assess the performance of the Permanent Secretaries in the system.
Speaking to THE NEW TODAY on Tuesday, the officer said that the time is also long overdue for the 14-month old National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Prime Minister Dr. Dickon Mitchell to address in a frank, open and bold manner the level of incompetence known to exist within the top echelon of the Public Service.
With over 15 years of experience in several key ministries on the island, the former high-ranking civil servant pointed out that the country is not getting value for money by keeping in place those Permanent Secretaries who lack capacity and capability.
He suggested that one option open to the government if it does not want to retire some of them in the public interest is to place them in insignificant positions in the service.
He noted that many of the persons holding acting PS posts within the service were placed there under the former New National Party (NNP) government of Keith Mitchell.
According to the ex-PS, the Congress administration cannot allow the situation to continue but needs to take a decisive decision on the issue.
“…If you are not going to confirm them in the position then revert them or give them insignificant positions in the service.
“If you are afraid that they may go to court and say we have been acting for over a year so you can’t revert me now, give them insignificant portfolios.”
The ex-senior public officer warned Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell that he is “playing with fire” as several of these Permanent Secretaries owe their allegiance to the former regime and should not be allowed to “lead key ministries” and will continue to frustrate the Congress government.
He also asked the government to relook the team that has been selected to attend a major Global Conference on Climate change in November.
He said that based on the names that are emerging so far, the delegation seems to lack people with competence to take part in any serious discussion or negotiation for the allocation of funds for development purposes.
According to the ex-public officer, it appears that the top public officers with capacity sand capability in the relevant ministries have been excluded from the Grenada team.
He pointed specifically at public officers who are responsible for mobilising resources for the country should be on the delegation.
“You need people who can go out there and speak to the issues at the conference but also people who can be engaged in the behind the scene discussions and negotiations for funding,” he remarked.