Jaristotle's Jottings | More uncomfortable truths – public sector accountability

Last week, I addressed the issue of uncomfortable truths that repeatedly dog our society, and which we generally tend to treat with as if we were ostriches: burying our heads in the sand and hoping the issues will dissipate by themselves. I also posited that playing with the truth is symptomatic of ‘runnings’ in Jamaica. This week, I intend to expand on the issue, focusing on recent ‘runnings’ which exemplify our mastery of the art of masking or stretching the truth.

I have, on more than one occasion, lamented on the decimation of the civil service, with career civil servants being displaced by political lapdogs brought in to execute the will of their political masters with scant regard for governmental policies and procedures. In fact, so tacit has been the decimation that permanent secretaries and other senior officers are now subject to contracts, having lost their permanency long ago. All, this while the Jamaica Civil Service Association remains mum – another sad truth.

Permanent Secretaries

So, when the chairman of the Economic Growth Council (EGC), Michael Lee-Chin, says that ‘ineffective permanent secretaries present a hindrance to the elusive five per cent nationwide growth the council aims to coordinate and that until [this] lack of accountability is fixed, there will be no public-sector transformation’, it comes across as if permanent secretaries are the stumbling blocks preventing progress and prosperity.

Being a stumbling block is a matter of perspective. If a minister is trying to implement unsavoury policies, and the permanent secretary blocks such poppycock, then yes, the permanent secretary is, quite aptly, a stumbling block for that minister.

That said, permanent secretaries are supposed to be the gatekeepers in their respective ministries with regard to the enforcement of controls, adherence to due process and prevention of subversion of procedures which are intended to stymy malfeasance.

Executive agencies

If we examine the ‘runnings’ appurtenant to executive agencies, resplendent with political hacks appointed to executive positions and boards of directors, we can clearly see the effects of the decimation strategy. Scandals, audit queries and never-ending reports of non-compliance with government procedures: Petrojam; NESol; CMU; RADA come readily to mind.

It augurs well for politicians then, when permanent secretaries are kept on a short leash, notably through short-term contracts, and better still, by ministers importing their own.

Job descriptions and accountability for ministers

Where are the long-promised job descriptions for our ministers of government? Still being conceptualised, I suppose. Why then did Mr Lee-Chin not speak to the absence of such means by which we can hold non-performing ministers to account, rather than attacking the very protective foundation of the government service, the permanent secretaries?

Notwithstanding my coming to their defence, I fully support the notion that permanent secretaries must have metrics against which their performance is measured; however, their performance appraisals should be undertaken by independent and objective public service commissioners and not subjectively at the whims and fancies of self-serving politicians. This approach, I believe, sets the tone for the measurement of performance at all lower levels throughout the civil service, and lays the foundation for a more professional and career-centric organisation.

Accountability in the public service environment should start from the top, exemplified by the politicians, and filter down. Only then will it become the ethos of the public service. However, I am acutely aware of the existing realities, and know sadly enough that such transparency and good governance will not occur for the foreseeable future.

Until then, the uncomfortable truth is that blame for governmental failure will continue to be lumped on civil servants, stumbling blocks to political malfeasance, because politicians and their hatchet men are never to be blamed.

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