Dear Editor,
It is noted that the “Ministry of Home Affairs: Guyana Police Force” has advertised the following “vacancies in the Guyana Police Force”:
i) Head, Strategic Management Department
ii) Team Leader, Strategic Management Department
iii) Strategic Planning Officer
iv) Research Officer
v) Change Facilitation Officer
Placed underneath the above is the following information:
Place of Work: Guyana Police Force, Georgetown
Characteristics of Position: One (1) year with possibility of
renewal
Conditions of Service: Negotiable
The information immediately above is of interest in that the related appointments appear to offer a guarantee of one year’s employment only. If this interpretation is correct then the one year employment provision would contradict the requirement in the ‘Scope of Work’, in first instance: “To advise the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Management Team of an annual strategic planning process and to take initiative in the development of the Guyana Police Force Strategic Plan”.
Merely to observe that as a norm such plans span a minimum of 3-5 years at least, depending on the size and nature of the organisation. Persons with relevant expertise therefore would rightly hesitate about their options between their current employment and the short-term nature of the prospective opportunity. In any case they would know that strategic planning is a dynamic process, subject to review and adaptation in the light of developments which may well be outside the control of the management team (so far unidentified), so that the thrust should be towards a sustained continuum relatively undisturbed by rotating incumbents. In the same vein the expression “with possibility of renewal” would strongly suggest that there is, or would be, a well structured performance management programme that could effectively assess whether or not the incumbents would have satisfied clearly articulated performance criteria to justify ‘renewal’.
That the ‘Conditions of Service’ would be negotiable may not necessarily be an incentive, even though they may be outside the current compensation structure of the Police Service Commission (which is constitutionally responsible for appointments to the Guyana Police Force).
In the possible absence of expert evaluation of the abovementioned positions, applicants may each have a basis for pondering whether, or how, relativities of the respective values of their jobs have been, or will be, established.
The same concerns as above will apply to the following advertised vacancies:
vi) Change Communication Officer
vii) Project Coordinator
viii) Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator
ix) Risk Management Officer
x) Divisional Analyst
The above apart, there is no indication as to whether these latter positions compose one (or more) department/division.
For that matter, the reporting relationships are on the whole unclear (except for collaboration with a ‘Management Team’).
With the advertisements providing minimal assurance of the longevity of the various incumbencies, there could be implications for sustainability of the strategy and the consistency of its implementation.
The publication speaks to the need for competent human resource management capacity to be a component of the plan, which may invite some oversight by the Police Service Commission.
Yours faithfully,
E B John
