Dear Editor,
I was browsing Facebook and recognized that the President had a visit to Region #6.
At Mara on the East Bank of Berbice, residents were engaged by the President and some cabinet members, notably the Minister responsible for Agriculture. One resident complained about canals that were not maintained.
The President called for the Regional Engineer to offer an explanation. This young Public Servant made his way to the front, after he was called upon. I was so distraught at the manner that this public servant was treated. I have never seen a sitting president ever display such arrogance. This showed total disrespect for the ordinary man who works tirelessly to serve the general public.
My take is that these Public Servants are not politicians, hence they should not be working on Saturdays. The public sector rules are clear in Section F of the Public Service Rules and Official Working Hours and Conduct, “the hours of work of Public Servants are set out by the Public Service Ministry in Circular No.14/1986, dated 1996/05/28. No variations should be affected unless ‘prior’ approval received from the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Ministry”. If the President is not happy with a complaint made there are procedures to be followed. I would think that the President has been in the Public Service long enough to know the chain of command starts with the Permanent Secretary. Basic management skills should allow him to know that the top-down system would from time to time give rise to
administrative glitches.
The Councillors elected at the regional level need to represent the people’s interest! What are they doing? I am sure that President Ali’s councillor, representing the East Bank Berbice, never visited the areas to deal with the people’s problems. This happens when you have incompetent Councillors who seldom interact with the people.
My second position is, why did the President not deal with the Minister of Agriculture? Billions are allocated to that ministry to maintain drainage and irrigation structures in the sector. Mind you, the Minister is responsible for all shortcomings in the sector. The President needs to deal with the politician responsible for the sector. The Ministry of Agriculture was doing canals in the area, why was this canal not given attention? Was the contractor given specific instructions not to do this canal? Would this canal help people who are perceived to be opposition supporters?
Editor, this demonstration by the President shows lack of decorum, arrogance, and total disrespect for the hard work of young Public Servants.
I would encourage Public Servants to stop attending politically arranged forums that are outside of your working hours. Do not allow the politicians to overstep their boundaries. Let them use the established Public Service rules to address issues of the public.
Finally, the Mr President needs to familiarize himself with his government’s policy on the payment of pension. There are Public Servants who are the paymaster for cash payments for Old Age Pension. What he should do is utilize the politically appointed Board of Guardians to carry out his political directions, or rebuild the Post Office on the East Bank, that will reduce the burden of pensioners havng to travel all the way to New Amsterdam to cash their vouchers.
Yours sincerely,
Kirk Fraser
Councillor
Municipality of New Amsterdam
