To ensure that the delivery of public services is not influenced by partisan politics - employment within the service must be done by an independent body and not by politicians and/or by persons working on their behalf. Public servants must be insulated from party politics, regardless of the party in power. We therefore believe that the Service Commissions (Public, Teaching, Police) ought to be retained and appointed by the President after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and other such persons as he/she thinks necessary (this is the current process).

In this regard, we further put forward that employment in the public service should be on a permanent basis, and NOT on contract, except in certain cases which may require immediate short-term intervention. Having public sector workers employed on a permanent basis would allow for a greater degree of continuity across the public service, and this in turn would contribute towards greater efficiency.

Corruption in the public sector must be eliminated. There is a strong public perception that there are several key areas within the public service where corruption is rampant, or that the potential for corruption is very high. These include the Customs, Inland Revenue, Immigration and Licensing Divisions. These areas must be reformed urgently to wipe out existing corruption. The use of technology on a much wider scale in these areas is likely to reduce corruption as corrupt practices are often carried out by users of these services in an effort to avoid bureaucracy. Therefore, as technology is put into effect more widely and public service efficiency is improved, bureaucratic obstacles would be removed, thereby reducing, at least in part the incentive for corruption.

The process by which human resources are managed within the public service is key to improving efficiency within the service. There must be a clear management model with greater authority residing with line managers within the service. Improving human resource management in the public service must include the development of relevant and adequate organisational structures for each Ministry. Also related to public service human resource management is the remuneration of public officers. There needs to be a new approach to remuneration of state employee so that well trained and highly skilled persons could be attracted to these jobs, in turn strengthening the service. Essential to this is a thorough job evaluation process. A more effective management of the public service would lead to a more effective delivery of public services.

Essential to improve productivity and efficiency is the provision of modern and safe working conditions to accommodate both employees and members of the public who are accessing the service. The review and streamlining of Public Service Regulations and work practices and procedures in order to bring these in line with the demands of a modern society.

Also key to having a more effective delivery of public services is ensuring that Ministers do not get involved directly in the operations of the Ministry, but that this role is carried out by the Permanent Secretary and other relevant senior Ministry officials.

Furthermore, the level of efficiency of the public service is adversely affected by duplication of effort, unclear lines of responsibility and splitting up of skilled human resources as a result of having a) too many Government Ministries and b) Government Ministries and/or Departments/Divisions of a Ministry operating as separate silos. One example of this is when citizens get ‘run around from office to office or Ministry to Ministry to have a road repaired or a watercourse cleaned only to be informed that it is the responsibility of some other There would therefore be significant advantages of limiting the size of the Cabinet and consequently of Ministries.

In this regard, we propose a significantly reduced number of Government Ministries, Bureaucracy can be further reduced by changing the culture of decision making. For a start the number of decisions to be made by the Cabinet (e.g. through Cabinet Notes) should be reduced, thus empowering line Ministers to make decisions consistent with Government policy. Secondly, the management of Ministries has to be such that lower levels within the structures are given decision making authority.