The government of The Bahamas is clumsy and inefficient because it is carrying a tremendous amount of historical baggage and the bureaucracy it has created is a breeding ground of poor work ethics. Bureaucracy complicates matters and paralyses. In it we find indecisiveness, more studies and more committees.
Since coming to office, many Ministers in the new Progressive Liberal Party government have been frustrated to no end by Civil Servants who are standing in the way of progress. Some of them have the audacity to say that “the Minister met me here and will leave me here.” To make life difficult and to scuttle the work of the government some of them hide files, sit on letters and even tell lies.
Ironically in his quest to put his style of leadership in place and his stamp on the government, Prime Minister Perry Christie has determined that it is in his government’s interest to leave these public officers in place to avoid being accused of victimization. This cannot work. The longer he keeps certain officials in their posts who wish “a crop failure” for his government, the more he will come to understand the degree of frustration his Ministers are experiencing. It was none other than Mr. Christie himself who told a reporter recently that his Ministers are frustrated.
If Ministers are frustrated, then the average Bahamian voter must be in a state of despair and hopelessness. Compounding the problems for the government is the cry from Cabinet Ministers that the government is broke. This sends a negative message throughout the public service and the investment community, both local and foreign on the capacity of the government to get things done. No one wants to do business with anyone or any institution which is broke. As long as the government has taxpayers to lean on with a private sector which is operating with excess liquidity in the banking system, it cannot be broke. Now, there might be a need for fiscal adjustments, and more creativity, but to create and sustain the perception that this is a broke government is to make nonsense of our system of governance.
In a government which is focused, less can be more. A productive public service should be about increasing output while decreasing financial input. Bottom line: getting more done with the same or less! Efficiency and productivity must be the watch words if the frustration levels are to improve for the Christie government. The real giant work involved in giving service to the public is not with Cabinet Ministers. They must produce policies and programmes. However if they are given lazy and indifferent officers to carry out those initiatives, there will be little progress. The bulk of work in a productive company doesn’t happen in the boardroom or executive offices, it’s done on the shop floor, on the factory line, on the retail sales floor and in the field. The very people who have the ability to remove the frustration of Ministers and make the government more productive have “been there, seen that, done that” – senior and some junior civil servants. They are the people who must buy into a new culture and be inspired.
Some Civil Servants often feel manipulated due to a Minister’s personal goal or ambition. They often see the politician’s statements as self-serving, manipulative and filled with empty words that offer no payoff for them. Unless the objective of the government is genuine and authentic, people won’t believe in it and every effort toward making a Ministry or department more productive will be thwarted. However, once the government has established the objective and created a suitable culture, it has to get rid of cynical workers. There is certainly no room for them in the ranks of management. Any company that’s serious about embarking on a journey to being more productive can ill afford to have cynics, naysayers and nonbelievers among its executive and managers. Once the Minister has determined the strategic objective or the policy and explained it and sold it to key officers within the Ministry, the Bahamian people expect quick and decisive action.
The problem in the government is that people do not get fired for non performance. Any boss – whether a Minister, a small-business owner, a department manager or CEO of a Fortune 500 company – must stay tuned to who understands and supports the big objective and who doesn’t . And then move the latter without hesitation. This can only come about in the Bahamas with serious public service reform. While it has been suggested by all sides in the political arena of The Bahamas, no government has developed the will or the strategy to reform the public service. Until this happens and the colonialistic general orders are abolished and replaced by progressive rules to govern public officers, the quality of governance and service to the people will remain below acceptable standards.
Insight, The Bahama Journal
