Governor tells CS bosses to be politically neutral
(CNS): The governor has told civil service managers that they and their staff must remain politically neutral when carrying out their jobs and has also emphasised the need to continue working towards greater accountability in the public sector. Helen Kilpatrick was a guest at the deputy governor’s regular weekly meeting with chief officer at the end of last month, according to the minutes released by Franz Manderson’s office. In addition to the governor’s message, Deloris Gordon from the Internal Audit Unit also joined the weekly gathering to explain what the unit does and how it can help chief officers when it comes to good governance. The COs also agreed to give civil servants an extra hour for lunch this week to attend the relevant Pirates Week heritage days.
With good governance a continuing theme of the governor’s office, at Kilpatrick’s first attendance at the weekly meetings she recognized the work being done to improve accountability across the service. But she emphasized the importance of “holding staff accountable for their performance”, the minutes stated. She also pointed to political neutrality and said that she expected everyone to perform their duties in such a way that “their political neutrality is not compromised”.
The minutes also record discussions about the Voluntary Separation Process, for which the deadline has now passed. The government has not yet revealed how many public sector workers have taken up the offer as the Civil Service Association had warned members against taking what they said was an unfavourable package.
The minutes also record that the move by the Department of Children & Family Services from Britcay House to Commerce House had been approved but there was no indication why this department was not moving into the new Government Administration Building, which is still more than 35% empty.
See minutes as released below.
Category: Politics
Your Excellency if you have an actual interest in accountability and why there is little of it in the civil service at the moment, you need to look at the processes used in appointing the highest levels of the civil service and you need to understand the political wildlife that is here.
A wiley old political fox from West Bay with a proclivity for gambling and no interest in the rules, learned long ago that if he secured the appointment of young cronies and acolytes to the most senior civil service positions, that his bidding would be done whether he was in the big chair or not. Even if his acolytes were not able to do exactly what he wanted, they could drag their feet to make sure that his opponents achieved little. Take a look at how many connected youngsters were appointed to the most senior posts between 2009 and 2013. Look into the details of the processes that were used in those appointments. Then you might begin to understand what this country is facing.
Bobo wake up PPM and UDP been doing the same thing for years and rewarding they supporters
Not the PPM, they seem to be rewarding the UDP supporters more, I na see more UDP people on boards since Mackeeva was Premier. Sherri, Kenrick, Linford, Norman and the list goes on …..No suh!
Al-T…
There's nothing known as "politically neutral"……….unless you belong to the same family as squids and tadpoles. And there's totally nothing wrong with sharing your loot amongst your friends and cronies.
Absurd equivocating spit one expects from a 2 year old.
If you feel so strong about your stance on the subject, then make all your lootings transparent to your co-workers.
In private sector you MAY be allowed to take an extra hour off provided that the performance of your duties is not impacted. As far as I remember any additional paid time off I was granted in my 20 year carrier was granted on the basis that the quality and timeliness of my work would not be sacrificed. Otherwise, the time was granted without pay. Is this the case here?
Is this time off given to performing employees as a reward or is it granted to all cig employees across the board? If it is across the board why would an underperforming employee given such benefit? What is the message that is being sent to underperforming civil service employees? Heritage days take priority over performance?
Nice idea but do you really believe that civil service managers actually care about let alone track performance?
Will forever be hard in such a small place, like avoiding conflict of interests near impossible. Wish them well though.
XXX Every 4 years I have noticed what may be a trend…the winning party moves government departments to vacant rental spaces and many times the owners of these plazas are supporters of the party that won and became government.
Why can't we get investigations into this type of conduct? we know both parties might benefit and hence reluctant to make this known.
XXXX
It is indeed a hard task when apointments over the last 20 years has been all about cronyism and contracts signed that favor a person who will provideinformation to the Party or Group that demits office. There needs to be an oversight by HE on the Deputy Governor no doubt.
Madam Governor LOL. Thanks for the chatter but when in the last twelve years has a Senior Officer shown neutrality when PPM and UDP have consistently appointed friends and supporters they can work with?
Ask the Deputy Governor Manderson why is it that Ms Drummond and Mrs Montoya are still on leave and collecting full salaries? Then we might take such proclaimations seriously
And how about showing them how to be religous neutral so the christians at my workplace stop acting like a pack of wolves toward other people's belief systems, and family composition nuetral so that promotions,salay hikes, and an unlimitted number of passes for poor performance arn't doled out because they can simply pre-create.
The amount of anti-Christian rhetoric on CNS is disturbing and distasteful.
Pray for us and turn the other cheek then.
Now thats going to be difficult!
Politicians have for years been "placing" friends" and the opposite for those that oppose them in high ranking CS positions. How are the friends going to become neutral?
Good idea though!
The idea that senior public service managers should be held to account if they don't obey our laws is something like the idea of universal peace and harmony – most people would agree that it is a good idea but nobody expects it to happen in their lifetimes.
If HE the Governor is serious about accountability perhaps she should start by holding the Deputy Governor to account. Bring in an external auditor to determine if the Deputy Governor has ever held a chief officer to account for breaching the rules as the law requires. I doubt that it has happened any time since the post was created despite all that has gone on and the complaints that have been made.
Exactly!!
How much time and energy has been wasted to cover-up mistakes and violations by the CS and the Chief Officers to avoid exposure to the public? How many complaints and violations have been provided "loopholes" and favoritism for their friends? It's all in "who you know" and the good ole boy network.
Some of the people receiving "social services" benefits are pretty "rough" and this was the reason given in the past for keeping them away from the main government building where they might form an "undesirable" group of "hangers on" outside the building thereby "lowering the tone" of the place.
That's rather disrepectful to MLA's.