?? |
| Prime Minister Freundel Stuart (FP)?? |
Government is committed to reforming the public service to give it a developmental focus.
This was emphasised yesterday by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, as he delivered the feature address at the 51st Annual General Meeting of the Barbados Employers’ Confederation, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Mr. Stuart told his audience that Protocol VI had committed government to speeding up the process of improving the service offered by public servants. "This, we shall do by ensuring that the public service is adequately staffed, highly trained to embrace new technologies, properly managed and, committed to good governance," he promised.
Conceding that even the best bureaucracies had their own inertia, the Prime Minister was, however, quick to point out that poor service due to indifference or incompetence "was unacceptable and not to be tolerated".
He also mentioned the erosion of the work ethic and the tendency by some workers to treat employment as a sinecure, low levels of productivity among workers in both the private and public sectors and the poor quality of service still being exhibited by many employees, as troubling in an economy that depended heavily on service industries.
Mr. Stuart said that there were "large numbers of outstanding public servants, who daily go beyond the call of duty to satisfy those whom they serve.
"Unfortunately, it is not these whose contribution to the national effort is highlighted in assessments of the public service, but rather the scattered instances of unprofessional behaviour by a minority".
He reminded persons that the development of the country was "the business of all of us".