“At no time does the Public Service Ministry select staff for employment at the Parliament Office,” Westford said, in response to questions about employment practices at the Parliament, while adding that she hoped the explanation would dispel “malicious information” emanating from MPs. She also emphasised that the government has never had any policy of selecting persons for employment based on their ethnicity. She added: “I want to assure all of the staff of the Parliament Office and more so the Public Service that this will never happen.”
Westford also revealed that the Ministry would continue to be responsible for employment until agreement on a mechanism to allow the Parliament Office to have control over employment of staff. She defended the current hiring practice, which PNCR-1G MP Winston Murray said is in conflict with the government’s acceptance of recommendations aimed at strengthening the autonomy of the parliament, including control over its staffing and budget. But Westford emphasised that they were only recommendations and had not been agreed on.
Murray was indignant at Westford’s pronouncement, noting that the National Assembly agreed to specific reform recommendations made in the Sir Michael Davies Needs Assessment and the World Bank-funded Guyana Fiduciary Oversight Project, which had both recommended that the Parliament employ its own staff. The select committee is responsible for the implementation of the recommendations and has been working since January, 2007. The committee’s last deadline was August this year and no request was made for an extension after it expired.
Murray has been critical of the delay in completing the committee’s work, accusing the government of filibustering. He has said the committee meets infrequently and revealed that the government members have said “unofficially” that they are not prepared to give up control. “What they want to do is to reopen the issue,” he explained, saying that the committee has no such mandate since the National Assembly has already adopted the recommendation and agreed to implementation. “We are past that mandate, we are past that point, we are [there] to decide how we may achieve that objective and what recommendations we want to put to the National Assembly and also to recommend any constitutional changes that may be necessary,” Murray added.
A senior government official whom this newspaper approached emphasised that the committee work takes time and that costs were also a concern of the administration that needed to be addressed. Also, officially the government has said while it agrees to the recommendation that the Parliament be in control of its own budget, it is concerned that “control by the parliament does not threaten the integrity of the government’s established mechanisms for ensuring responsible fiscal management.”
PPP/C MP and Chief Whip Indra Chandarpal submitted questions for oral reply on Thursday by Westford, on the employment of staff of the Parliament Office. Chandarpal sought to ascertain the procedures for the employment of both contracted staff as well as those on the fixed establishment, as well as whether the Ministry is responsible for promotion and discipline.
As opposition MPs derided the question as “incestuous,” Westford informed the house that the procedure for employing staff within the Parliament Office is the same for the public service. She explained that when the Clerk of the National Assembly, who is also the administrator and the head of Parliament Office, desires to fill a vacancy, would seek permission from the Public Service Ministry in writing. A similar practice would be adopted in instances when there is need to create a position and fill the vacancy and the Public Service Ministry would respond accordingly. In the cases of employment on a contractual basis, the Clerk would advertise for candidates and refer those eligible to the Public Service Ministry, which would usually indicate whether he could proceed.
Westford added that if employment is based on a pensionable establishment, the request for permission to fill the vacancy is sent to the Public Service Commission (PSC), which would advertise the position and procedures and recommend candidate with the input of the Clerk. She added that there is a system in place, where persons will send applications either to the ministry of public service or labour and there applications would be kept on file and sent to the relevant head of department if there exist vacancies within any agency within the public service. She said too that promotion of staff on pension is done only by the Public Service Commission, with recommendation by the Clerk. On the issue of disciplinary action against contracted workers, she said the Clerk would inform the ministry, which would advise on a way forward.
Sir Michael Davies had found that the Assembly has no power to appoint, dismiss or promote the staff that works for it; rather, it is the function of the Public Service Commission. Sir Michael called it “astonishing,” saying it could lead to “undesirable consequences.” He noted that some staff had not had their appointments confirmed after several years in the post, despite several letters from the Clerk asking for their appointment to be confirmed. Additionally, he reported that half the staff had been employed on a temporary basis.
In addition to the mechanism through which the Parliament Office would begin to employ its own staff, the special select committee is also charged with examining the current constitutional arrangement for the appointment of the Clerk and advising whether there is need for a change and what it should be.
