Thorne: Govt undermining civil service independence

Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne on Tuesday accused the Mia Mottley administration of undermining the independence of the once-vaunted civil service and the judiciary by appointing heads of departments and even judges on three and four-year contracts.

This practice amounts to political interference, Thorne asserted in the House of Assembly, as senior appointees may be more concerned about securing contract renewals than offering independent and objective advice to the political directorate.

While describing as “noble” the Public Service (Appointments) Bill, which will result in the permanent appointment of more than 2 000 civil servants, including 1 170 temporary workers, as well as over 900 promotions for officers who had been acting, Thorne maintained that the public service remained in a state of turbulence.

Despite supporting the bill, he suggested that the timing of the legislation was linked to the prospect of an impending general election.

The opposition leader said there was widespread frustration within the public service stemming from what he described as the “planting” of individuals at the top of departments on three-year contracts.

“And public service and the traditions of public service may have been undermined by the deliberate policy of this government of planting contractual workers at the head of public service,” Thorne said. “What has that done to the public service? Has it demoralised the public service? Has it frustrated the legitimate ambitions of persons in the middle and close to the top who felt that they were destined for leadership? … I want to bring the public condemnation to the existence or to the practice.”

The integrity of the public service was historically grounded in senior public officers providing independent advice to the political directorate without fear that their jobs would be in jeopardy, noted Thorne.

“What made the public service attractive was security of tenure. … A public servant was there by status and it was not by contract,” he told the House.

“I cannot admire what this government has done within the last seven years. It has planted at the top, at the uppermost reaches of the public service, a kind of servant, a kind of person who is not there by virtue of status, who is not within the tradition of public service, that person is now there by contract.”

Thorne emphasised that “it is security of tenure that tends to guarantee independence,” and reminded civil servants that they were not employed by members of Cabinet.
“The politician, the minister, is not your employer,” he said.

“He is not your boss. You’re not answerable to him. You’re answerable to your head of department or further to your permanent secretary. The minister is there for the purpose of policy.”

He cautioned ministers against interfering in the operations of government departments.

“When you hear ministers saying that they went into a public service department to see how things are going in there, none of that. Don’t do that again, please. The ministry, the persons in there, the public servants in there, are not your employees. Please stay out of the people’s places of work. Stay out of them.”

Turning to education, the opposition leader said teachers across the island were “burned out” and argued that the government had sufficient time and financial latitude to resolve the long-standing issue of “long leave” for educators, who often act as surrogate parents for children during the school day.

The Christ Church South MP told the House: “There are a lot of teachers who are taking lunch to school for children for years…. That will need to come to an end, not because we are challenging the generosity of teachers, but we are saying that the people of this country hear there has [has been] 17 consecutive quarters of growth.

“If that is the case, if we are in an economy that is so buoyant, no child should be going to school and staying at school in a state of hunger.”

Thorne also raised concerns about conditions within the Barbados Police Service, noting that while the government had introduced a sizeable allowance for detectives, the measure had created divisions between detectives and uniformed officers.

(IMC)