People declining appointments in Public Service

People working in the Public Service are declining appointments. Acting Chief Personnel Officer Beresford Riley made this disclosure to members of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) during a public hearing at Tower D of the Port of Spain International Waterfront Centre yesterday. Riley said not enough is known about why people are declining certain appointments. However he said this is not solely linked to matters of compensation. Riley was optimistic that some vacancies could be filled by the end of January.

Permanent secretary to the Prime Minister and head of the Public Service Maurice Suite agreed with Riley that this was an issue which was hampering efforts to fill certain vacancies. Suite said when attempts are made to address compensation for some public officers, others come forward.

Acting director of personnel administration Prabhawatie Maraj also said some people in the Public Service are declining promotions. Asked by PAAC chairman Bridgid Annisette-George about sanctions for public officials with respect to public procurement, acting permanent secretary (Investments and Procurement) in the Finance Ministry Michelle Durham-Kissoon said there are sanctions in the new public procurement legislation which is still to be proclaimed. Durham-Kissoon added that the post of procurement regulator is also to be filled. Under the legislation, this appointment is made by the President.

Opposition senator Wade Mark expressed concern that action to address possible deficiencies in the internal audit function in the Public Service was not moving fast enough.

In response to questions from Annisette-George, Public Service Academy director Denise Phillip said members of the Public Service will be exposed to training in inventory management control in January. Phillip also said they will receive training in respect of fraud asset management in March. Maraj also said the Service Commissions department recently restarted a scanning project as part of efforts to improve its record-keeping.

She said an allocation was contained in the 2017/2018 Budget for this exercise.