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#BTColumn – Public Sector Reform – action needed

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Peter Webster

I am disappointed that a “call in” programme moderator in a discussion on Thursday 24th September, 2020, with a caller who complained about the performance of the Judiciary in Barbados and the Public Sector in general, missed the opportunity once again to articulate the solutions that have been clearly set out by many, but never implemented.  This leaves me concerned that the “Press” doesn’t care about solutions.

For more than 30 years, we in Barbados have been trying to get the Public Sector at all levels to improve its notoriously poor performance through Public Sector Reform.  This has been an absolute failure as seen by the following list, most of which have been discussed publicly:

• Allowing Ministers to take executive action which is the Civil Service domain – the politicians are policy makers. A Canadian friend has pointed out that the difference between Canada and Barbados is that in Canada the Civil Servants keep their Ministers in check as to what their Ministers can and cannot do;

• The lack of accountability and fiduciary responsibility of the many State Corporations which have been unable to produce audited/certified accounts as noted by the Auditor General;

• The repeated downgrading of the “Ease of Doing Business in Barbados” where the Civil Servants openly tell investors that it is not their job to tell them what they (the investor) can do – only what they (the investor) cannot do;

• The failure to facilitate the development of the Health Tourism Sector (as other countries are successfully doing) despite five investment proposals for that sector.  The reason has remained the same since St. George’s Medical School and its many foreign students were chased back to Grenada 30 years ago where it now earns more than US$100 million per annum in foreign exchange for that country;

• The ongoing failure of the Barbados Water Authority to meet its obligations, despite having a monopoly (no competition) on water distribution;

• Failure to undertake the obvious works necessary to alleviate the repeated flooding in some areas after heavy rainfall.  Note: These “works” have been repeatedly listed in successive, formal Physical Development Plans that were approved by Parliament but never implemented;

• The failure of our Sanitation Authority to promote cleanliness and to keep Barbados clean;

• The failure of the Barbados Transport Authority to meet their responsibility while accruing a huge debt for the taxpayers;

• Failure of the Ministry of Education to empower the Boards and Heads of its schools to manage their schools without interference from the said Ministry.  Many problems accrue as a result, including declining academic results, alienation of our schoolboys and gender discrimination;

• Failure to adequately zone schools in order to reduce the many hours students must travel to and from school thereby depressing academic performance, limiting students’ involvement in sports and promoting a negative bus culture;

• Failure of our public school teachers to achieve the same levels of student performance as that achieved in the private sector;

• Poor maintenance of Government Buildings, Infrastructure and equipment;

• Implementation across the sector of no more than 30 per  cent of what they were supposed to do (an implementation deficit of 70 per cent) as identified by all the international financing agencies – World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank;

• Failure of the Judiciary to meet its deadlines for judgement with notorious cases lasting 10 years;

• An informal survey two years ago suggested that at any point in time during working hours only 40% of our civil servants were actually on their job;

• Failure to implement an improved financial budget system which focusses on outputs and deliverables rather than the antique “activity” budget that has been in existence before independence;

• Failure of the Public Sector Reform Unit to improve performance by focusing on people and incentives rather than on systems and procedures;

• Failure of the Performance Evaluation section of the Government to implement an objective and transparent performance evaluation system for all Civil Servants, Departments and Ministries on which adequate performance incentives can be based.

These are only a tiny portion of the many poor performance indicators of our Public Sector. So, what is the cause that has been articulated by many knowledgeable and qualified persons?  Let there be no doubt that the vast majority of our Public Servants are good, solid citizens of Barbados who would be more productive if they were motivated. However, managers in our centralized bureaucratic Public Sector are not empowered to motivate or incentivise anybody. Our Public Sector lacks motivation and performance incentives.

There are neither rewards for good performance nor sanctions for poor performance and there will be no improvement unless we the suffering public demand change and make our voices heard hopefully with the support of the “Press” such as the “Call-in Programmes”. Constantly complaining about the poor performance is achieving nothing. We must articulate the solution and demand implementation.

An important part of the problem in implementing performance evaluation is that it creates friction and stress between management and workers, but no better alternative
has been identified. Furthermore, the methodologies and processes utilized have improved over the years, reducing said friction and stress.

For example, more measurable objectively verifiable indicators are being used along with alternative processes such as 180-degree performance evaluations (by colleagues) for the indicators requiring subjectivity such as those relating to quality.

Come on Bajans! Stop complaining and start demanding the solution!

Peter Webster is a retired Portfolio Manager of the Caribbean  Development Bank and a former Senior Agricultural Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture.

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