Dear Editor
It is difficult for many elected officials to not become arrogant and indifferent to the persons who elected them to office. In office, they seem to quickly forget election promises. Forget the beautifully worded manifestos and return to living a detached life permitted and afforded to them by the system of governance which exists in the present political system of many countries. This system allows for the formation of dictators. Current dictators worldwide use the military and police to fortify themselves and to allow them to continue to abuse in a wanton fashion. They obtain infantile blind loyalty to the party to continue to inflict great wrong on the people. They justify greed, lavish spending, mismanagement and financial abuse by absolute denial of their wrongdoings. They fortify their self-righteousness by the adulation they receive from their families and loyalists who benefit while the large majority struggle. They are not bothered much by the opposition for they are in the minority. We have the opportunity for ensuring that abuse of our country’s wealth does not occur any more. Financial mismanagement by any government should be stopped by the permanent secretaries, who are the administrators and financial managers of the ministries. As we move forward to electing a new government, I wish to see that the party which wins on polling day ensures that accountability becomes the standard for governance. It is important that the elected official fulfills his duty for the main function of the office of government. That is, the development of good policies to safeguard and benefit all Guyanese. This can be done by ensuring that the permanent secretaries are able to do the job of their office without interference by the minister. The permanent secretaries are the administrative heads of the various departments of government and are responsible for their financial management. As stated in the Journal of Public Administration and Governance 2161-7104 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1, “It is not the minister for the department who is the administrative head. It is the permanent secretary who has the great responsibility for managing the minister and ensuring that guidance and support is given to the minister even if the minister has a different political philosophy from the permanent secretary”.
In government, there is no longer party politics. Permanent secretaries must find the courage to protect the finances of the country for the people and not be party to the abuse of our nation’s wealth by greedy politicians. Ministers of government cannot move out permanent secretaries from their ministry because of personal feelings.
The critical and valuable role of the permanent secretary is well described by Dr Donald M. McCartney of the Bahamas, who states that the permanent secretary is the administrative head and is permanent. The relationship of the permanent secretary to the minister is also described in the reports of the Parliamentary Select Committee in the United Kingdom: “The permanent secretary should record in writing their dissent when their ministers are spending funds for purposes other than those for which they were voted for by Parliament. Officials must be willing to tell ministers things the latter do not wish to hear. They must confront ministers with problem not just bring them solutions. The official relationship with the ministers is emphatically not one of passive obedience; and ministers are expected to give more attention to the advice of the secretary.”
Jamaica, to its credit, ensures political non-interference with the permanent secretary while recognising that the permanent secretary has a reporting role to parliament and must support the technical heads of department. Supervision and authority over the permanent secretary is not by the minister of government but by the Cabinet Secretary. As a CARICOM member, the practice should be the same in Guyana.
However, permanent secretaries were reassigned by the minister of state in March 2017 and in May 2019, the president announced a reshuffling of permanent secretaries. From the description of the role of the permanent secretaries, it appears to me that neither the president nor his ministers have the right to reshuffle or appoint without the recommendation originating from the Public Service Commission and the Cabinet Secretary. No matter how powerful a head of state or government minister feels, he or she must be managed by the permanent secretary and not vice versa. It is the permanent secretary who must answer to the blunders of the ministers.
As such, permanent secretaries need to meet without the presence of a minister, to plan for their vital role of being able to function without political interference. This is needed for strengthening their roles for the protection of the finances of the people of Guyana. They need to advise their ministers of their primary role, which is not to micromanage the ministry but to be available to their electorate to address their social concerns and be on top of negotiations with the many persons seeking to benefit from Guyana.
Yours respectfully
Dr Davendra Sharma
Professor of Behaviour Sciences
