Dear Editor,
The prime minister of Barbados, Freundel Stewart, has repeated the following statement on innumerable occasions: "Barbados has the best civil service in the Caribbean." None should accuse him of being a braggart because he deserves bragging rights.
In Barbados employment in the civil service is based on meritocracy and performance, not nepotism and cronyism. The Bajans have not followed Jamaica's dirty examples. Further, Barbados has been engaging in public sector reform for over 30 years. Unlike our parliamentarians, the Bajans are cognisant of the fact that the civil service is responsible for institutional building in a country. Therefore, public sector reform cannot be a piecemeal initiative; it is an ongoing process. Archaic policies in regards to the public sector are often reviewed by technocrats in order to achieve maximum efficiency.
Barbados is now reaping the rewards for her foresight. Barbados was ranked 47 on the Global Competitiveness Index and 15 on the Corruption Perception Index, outperforming many developed countries, including America and England. Barbados also received high marks for institutions, infrastructure and health and education indicators on the Global Competitiveness Index.
Time wasted can never be regained. When Barbados was reviewing public sector policies in the 70s, the Manley Administration created the Commission of Political Purity, which rewarded persons with jobs based on ideology and support for the party and
not on technical competence. Unfortunately, the contamination of the civil service continues today. Furthermore, the political figureheads in this country have created a culture which is built on welfare and not on wealth creation. In Jamaica, populism always triumphs over tangible economic policies. This State has never had a transformational leader and the current leadership is extremely uninspiring.
However, the people of Jamaica should also shoulder the blame for the massive institutional failure which the nation has experienced over the past 50 years as they have not demanded better representation from their elected representatives.
After 51 years of Independence Jamaican are still fast asleep; refusing to wake up and reclaim our nation from the clutches of despots. Change will only occur when Jamaicans decide to stand up to those in Gordon House and demand effective representation.
Lipton Matthews
lo_matthews@yahoo.com
We need a change
-->
The prime minister of Barbados, Freundel Stewart, has repeated the following statement on innumerable occasions: "Barbados has the best civil service in the Caribbean." None should accuse him of being a braggart because he deserves bragging rights.
In Barbados employment in the civil service is based on meritocracy and performance, not nepotism and cronyism. The Bajans have not followed Jamaica's dirty examples. Further, Barbados has been engaging in public sector reform for over 30 years. Unlike our parliamentarians, the Bajans are cognisant of the fact that the civil service is responsible for institutional building in a country. Therefore, public sector reform cannot be a piecemeal initiative; it is an ongoing process. Archaic policies in regards to the public sector are often reviewed by technocrats in order to achieve maximum efficiency.
Barbados is now reaping the rewards for her foresight. Barbados was ranked 47 on the Global Competitiveness Index and 15 on the Corruption Perception Index, outperforming many developed countries, including America and England. Barbados also received high marks for institutions, infrastructure and health and education indicators on the Global Competitiveness Index.
Time wasted can never be regained. When Barbados was reviewing public sector policies in the 70s, the Manley Administration created the Commission of Political Purity, which rewarded persons with jobs based on ideology and support for the party and
not on technical competence. Unfortunately, the contamination of the civil service continues today. Furthermore, the political figureheads in this country have created a culture which is built on welfare and not on wealth creation. In Jamaica, populism always triumphs over tangible economic policies. This State has never had a transformational leader and the current leadership is extremely uninspiring.
However, the people of Jamaica should also shoulder the blame for the massive institutional failure which the nation has experienced over the past 50 years as they have not demanded better representation from their elected representatives.
After 51 years of Independence Jamaican are still fast asleep; refusing to wake up and reclaim our nation from the clutches of despots. Change will only occur when Jamaicans decide to stand up to those in Gordon House and demand effective representation.
Lipton Matthews
lo_matthews@yahoo.com
We need a change
-->