Justice Minister Emmanuel George on Tuesday, July 15, made a quite startling contribution to the debate in the Senate. According to him, a permanent secretary (PS), not a minister, has the responsibility to look after the ministry and its offices as manager and accounting officer. That responsibility he said, includes ensuring a safe working environment, proper accounting for the ministry's finances and making sure employees work!
According to this meaning it is the PS in the Ministry of National Security, and not Mr Watson Duke and the PSA, that the public should hold accountable for the hardship and expense they have had to incur as a result of the closure of the Immigration offices.
Since the PS is the most senior public officer in a ministry and, under the Constitution, is formally charged with supervision of that ministry, then the PS should indeed be held to some high accountability for working conditions and everything else–as asserted by Minister George.
The same section of the Constitution that charges the PS with the responsibility to "supervise" gives the minister power to "direct and control" the ministry! The relevant section of the Constitution reads as follows (for department, read Ministry): Section 85. (1) "Where any Minister has been assigned responsibility for any department of Government, he shall exercise general direction and control over that department; and, subject to such direction and control, the department shall be under the supervision of a Permanent Secretary whose office shall be a public office."
Of course one can engage in tedious discussions about what "direction and control" and "supervision" mean in the context of operations. Meanwhile what is needed by the public, which pays ministers and PSs, is a straightforward statement as to who is accountable for performance or non-performance of a ministry?
And by accountable I mean which individual has to account for the activities of a ministry and accept its responsibility. Is the answer as clear-cut as stated by Minister George? The PS is responsible? I wonder how many PSs have or will accept the responsibilities as described and if they do I wonder whether they have the commensurate authorities ie the legal and institutionalised powers to enable them to successfully carry out their responsibilities.
Finally, if PSs are accountable for performance of departments/ministries of government, for what are ministers accountable?
Ashton S Brereton
Via e-mail