Sat Ma­haraj

Part 5

We must en­sure that the ap­point­ment of min­is­ters are not sim­ply based on the tra­di­tion­al pol­i­cy of po­lit­i­cal pa­tron­age but must be mer­it-based. There must al­so be a min­is­te­r­i­al code im­ple­ment­ed to gov­ern min­is­ters and the Prime Min­is­ter must be re­spon­si­ble to the par­lia­ment for en­forc­ing the code. Elec­tions should be held every four years, on a date fixed by law, with strict laws in place to deal with cam­paign and par­ty fi­nanc­ing.

Re­form­ing the Pub­lic Ser­vice: There must be more se­ri­ous at­tempts at re­form with­out fear of trade unions' rant­i­ngs. The dis­cus­sion, in our hum­ble view, must start with the gen­er­al pol­i­cy of cus­tomer fo­cus.We have too many com­plaints about the ser­vice de­liv­ered by pub­lic ser­vants. Re­form must cater for a new style of op­er­a­tions on par with the pri­vate sec­tor which en­sures ef­fi­cien­cy and max­i­mum out­put.

There are al­so sev­er­al anom­alies in the pub­lic ser­vice which should be dis­cussed. For ex­am­ple, sit­u­a­tions where there are work­ers who are an­swer­able to the Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary and or the line Min­is­ter, as op­posed to those who are strict­ly an­swer­able to the Ser­vice Com­mis­sion. At the open­ing of the In­dus­tri­al Court in 2013, the Pres­i­dent of the Court made stark re­marks about the con­tin­u­ing use of con­tract work­ers in the pub­lic ser­vice.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/dig­i­tal/new-mem­bers