The Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP) yesterday denied that government’s hiring of contract workers has jumped saying that the absorption of various ministries into the MOTP accounted for the rise in its contract worker wage bill however questions remain about how many new persons were hired by the administration
Stabroek News had reported yesterday that despite criticising former PPP/C administrations for subverting the public service through the heavy use of contract workers, the APNU+AFC Coalition government has not only continued the practice but has more than doubled the number of contract workers in some government agencies.
In its Budget Focus 2016, chartered accounting firm Ram and McRae drew attention to the retention of public servants as contracted employees, while noting that the numbers and cost had increased.
However, in a statement yesterday the MOTP quoted Minister of State Joseph Harmon as stating that the SN article was “inaccurate” and following the May 2015 elections, the MOTP is now comprised of the Ministry of Social Cohesion, Ministry of Citizenship, and still includes the Public Service Department, which was a standalone Ministry under the previous administration.
In addition, all the accompanying departments are now part of MOTP, including the General Registrar’s Office, Immigration, E-Governance, and the National Community Development Council. The Ministry of Natural Resources was only recently designated as a separate Ministry and was also a Ministry within MOTP until January 2016, the statement said.
“These organisational changes have meant that the Ministry of the Presidency now covers a wider range of operational areas and cannot be compared to the Office of the President (OP) under the previous administration,” the statement said. It said that this would explain how the contract worker wage bill rose from $142m to $798m. It added that the staff complement dedicated to the work of the office of the President under the current administration has gone down.
“The operational strength of the Ministry has gone down. In May 2015, we had 375 staff working at OP. In January 2016, we have 325, specifically for the office of the President complex…so it is not accurate to say that the Ministry’s hires are skyrocketing. It is that there have been organisational changes that have taken place,” Harmon was quoted as stating.
According to the statement, Harmon said that as of January 2016, the Public Service Department, previously the Public Service Ministry staff total is 50, Department of Natural Resources: 58; Ministry of Citizenship: 141; and E-Governance: 69.
Harmon said President David Granger has already made his plans clear on the reform of the public service in Guyana, and that commitment remains.
“There has been a clear direction by the President that it is our intention to return the Public service to a professional one and so contract hires will be reduced to a minimum. This is why we have employed people to train public servants, who will be the core of that new development. This is why the Staff College is there. There has been no indiscriminate hiring of contract employees…some of the new hires have been people who have been brought back because of their skills, which they have to impart that knowledge to the new people. The Staff College will comprise of people like that. There were other departments where the skills base and skills set was severely depleted under the previous administration so you had to bring back people who can bring back the standards to run a country,” he was quoted as saying.
The statement did not say how many persons on contract were let go and how much were hired by the APNU+AFC administration.
According to Harmon, there was a number of contract hires met under the previous administration and many of them were unable to perform at the required standards.
Freedom House
“Some of the people were here because of some Freedom House arrangement and were all contract workers but in a structured environment you could not get them to perform. These are things we had to address. Contract employees brought on are people with a skill; people who are there to replace those people who were brought by the PPP [People’s Progressive Party] and just stuffed into positions. A lot of square pegs they had there and so to retain them, we have to retrain them,” the Minister said.
According to the statement, Harmon made it clear that all contract workers who have been added to the MOTP are “aptly qualified and skilled professionals,” and are meant to add to the reform process of the Public Service sector. He indicated that he will report on the Ministry’s organisational make up during his presentation for the budget debates in the National Assembly.
The statement also reported that Harmon said the publication of the article is “misleading” and all of these questions could have been answered if media houses had used the opportunity to obtain the government’s response. “I believe that journalistic ethics require that people call and ask you for a comment, which I am always prepared to give,” he was quoted as saying.
Stabroek News had made multiple attempts to contact Harmon on another matter on Wednesday but his phone was turned off. MOTP’s Communications Director Mark Archer was also contacted on Wednesday but told Stabroek News that Harmon would have to be contacted directly. When Stabroek News contacted Harmon at the time it was stated that he would be available later on Wednesday evening, his phone was still off.
Meantime, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman addressed the matter during his post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday saying that it would be “virtually impossible” for the numbers to jump so astronomically in just a few months.
“It is not that this government has gone out and hired hundreds of people because it feels it wants to do so,” he said while adding that there has not been a mass hiring of people but because of the bundling of the various divisions, the collation of the numbers gives what appears to be a frightening figure.
Meantime, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, in a statement explained the rise in costs related to its contract employees.
The Stabroek News report had said that the ministry saw an increase from $9M to $51M within its Policy Development and Administration Programme and from $182M to $533M under its Public Works Programme. The increases under these programmes represent an increase in the number of contract workers from 20 to 38 and 250 to 255, respectively.
Divided
The statement explained that under the Ministry, the budget was divided into two parts: the first, from January 2015 to August 2015, and the second, from September 2015 to December 2015.
For the first period, the budget was for Agency 31, Ministry of Public Works, while the second period was for Agency 32, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the statement said.
For Agency 31 (Ministry of Public Works), under the “Ministry Administration Programme”, the budget was $19.839M for contracted employees. Meanwhile, for Agency 32 (Ministry of Public Infrastructure), under the “Policy Development and Administration Programme”, the budget was $9.131M for contracted employees, according to the statement.
“Therefore, for the entire year for the Ministry, the budget for contracted employees was $28.97M for 2015 and not only $9.131M. The figure therefore moved from $28.97M for 2015 to $51.679M for 2016, a difference of $22.709M. These figures represented an increase of 18 contract workers between 2015 and 2016; the number moved from 20 to 38,” the statement said.
It said that the 18 new contracted employees included six accounts clerks, one clerk, one stores clerk, one supply expeditor, one office assistant, one driver, one handyman, one stores attendant and three cleaners.
The statement added that for Agency 31 (Ministry of Public Works), under the “Public Works Programme”, $325.931M was budgeted for contracted employees. Meanwhile, for Agency 32 (Ministry of Public Infrastructure), under the “Public Works Programme,” $182.753M was budgeted for contracted employees. Therefore, for the entire year for the Ministry, the budget for contracted employees was $508.684M and not only $182.753M, the statement sad.
“The figure therefore moved from $508.684M for 2015 to $533.935M for 2016, a difference of $25.251M. These figures represented an increase of five contract workers between 2015 and 2016; the number moved from 250 to 255,” the statement said.
It noted that the increased five contracted employees included one research engineer, one administrative assistant, two drivers and one cleaner.
“Additionally, it must be noted that the 2016 budget includes the wage increases granted in the 2015 budget (that is, 5% plus $5,000), adding to the increases of wages noted,” the statement said.
