PUBLIC AND private sector representatives are to meet on Wednesday at a forum to discuss Goverment's policy to modernise the public sector.
The modernisation programme is being undertaken as the government enforces its commitment to good governance and the creation of "an effective, efficient, transparent and accountable public sector".
To date, the government has converted the Administrator General's Department, the office of the Registrar of Companies and the Registrar General's Department into executive agencies. The Titles, Surveys and Land Valuation departments have also been merged.
Wednesday's forum is being organised by the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs (FIPA), which says it supports the government's move but has warned that the "creation of new structures and engagement of personnel from outside the civil service do not in any way guarantee better management." Instead, the FIPA stated that privatisation should "involve a focus on improving the delivery of quality service to the largest number of people in need of that service rather than the just maximisation of financial returns."
The forum will be held at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, New Kingston and will be addressed by Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Carlton Davis, Mr. Eddie Bailey, President of the Jamaica Civil Service Association and Prof. George Eaton, an expert on modernisation of government and who served as a Permanent Secretary in Jamaica during the 1970s.
