Minister for Public Services to hold staff to account for expenditure
Minister for Public Services, Sonia Parag.
Kaieteur News – Spending within the Public Services Ministry will be constantly under the microscope. According to the sitting Minister, Sonia Parag, she intends to hold her employees to account for “every dollar spent”.
Parag made this pronunciation on the “Budget in Focus” program aired last Tuesday. The Minister said that the PPP administration would have campaigned heavily on accountability and transparency and therefore every effort will be made to practice what was preached.
According to Parag, President Irfaan Ali would have committed his administration to extending accountability and being held accountable to the public. In that regard, the Minister said that she intended to keep that promise by holding the public servants in her Ministry to account.
Further, Parag emphasized the need to develop a code of conduct and a code of ethics in the public service. “When you have professionalism … or professionalism, you have transparency, you have that accountability,” said Parag.
By transforming her own Ministry, and not just her Ministry, but the rules governing the public service in terms of code of ethics and code of conduct, Parag believes this can contribute to holding public people or offices in accountable.
Parag also noted that the employee management system that was due to start last year, under provisions made in the emergency budget, has not yet operated. “My idea was to implement this immediately, however, I thought it was better for myself and a team from the Attorney General Chambers and very soon the relevant stakeholders would be involved in that discussion, but we want to implement that as set out in the revised public service rules, ”he added.
Kaieteur News was informed that the employee management system is meant to be a guide for best practice in the public service. However, it is no longer a guide, but a rule, which means that the provisions in that statement will be mandatory. “You will be held accountable; there are consequences to breaking any of those rules. And what is a performance management system? It’s not just when someone comes to renew a contract or requests a promotion that you automatically produce a document that provides an evaluation or analysis of that person’s performance, ”said Parag during the program.
Minister Parag added that it is something that will continue throughout the year, and employees may not know when it is coming or there may be a specific period during which an appraisal can take place, coming out of the that assessment. In light of that, she believes that performance in the public service will improve.
He also acknowledged the improvement in people’s behavior in the public service to date. According to the Minister, they are taking a deeper interest in the way they present themselves and the way they represent their respective ministries.
Also, on the subject of public spending, Parag said, “Who wouldn’t want to save in one area where you can? These are taxpayer dollars that are spent at the end of the day and no one out there who pays taxes wants to know that their money is wasted. “If this happens, he said, people would expect them to be cut and exploited.