PADARATH: Poor Management and Incompetence from Cabinet, Not Permanent Secretaries
Princes Town MP, Barry Padarath slammed Prime Minister Keith Rowley for his recent comments that Permanent Secretaries coming from the public service are poor managers and are responsible for project delays and inefficiency in the public service. Padarath indicated that Rowley is once more deflecting from his incompetence and that of his Cabinet by blaming Permanent Secretaries for the failure of his government to deliver goods and services to the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
MP Padarath pointed out that the rhetoric and mantra of blaming Kamla and the UNC had outlived its usefulness for the PNM since the population had wisened up after 7 years of Rowley’s failed leadership. Therefore, the Prime Minister was now looking for new scapegoats to cast blame on for his Government’s continued lack of delivery and vision.
Padarath who Shadows the Ministry of Public Administration stated that former Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar was saddled with the same public service in 2010 and found ways to make institutional changes and strengthen the public service by working with the public servants instead of spending her time undermining them. He added that over the past 6 to almost 7 years, Rowley has demotivated public servants, thrown them under the bus for the state of the economy and referred to them as lazy and unproductive. Padarath reminded the Prime Minister that leadership comes from the top and that he has done little or nothing to build upon the work that was left in 2015 by the People’s Partnership in the sphere of public service.
The Shadow Minister of Public Administration added that the Permanent Secretaries under the Persad Bissessar Administration came from the same public service that Rowley is criticizing today. It is the same public service that produced Permanent Secretaries that saw projects in Healthcare come to fruition within budget and within time. These projects included the Couva Children’s Hospital, the Scarborough Hospital and the Point Fortin Hospital. Further, he stated that the Permanent Secretaries in the time of the Persad Bissessar Administration oversaw projects as well in national security when over fifteen Police Stations were built across the length and breadth of the country. Similarly, it was Permanent Secretaries produced by the same public service that worked with the partnership government to efficiently deliver water and social services to the population.
The Princes Town MP reminded the Prime Minister that if Permanent Secretaries were not busy dealing with sexual harassment non-disclosure agreements and rental contracts to Ministers under his administration, then they might have the time to focus on government projects.
Padarath stated that the buck stops with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and that a Permanent Secretary can be moved by a Prime Minister by being reassigned with a stroke of a pen. Therefore, it is disingenuous for Rowley to give the impression that Permanent Secretaries are to blame for poor project management and stymieing the process of getting work done. The MP stated that this is another distraction and smoke screen from the Prime Minister as he seeks to shift blame for the collapse of the highway, the over 3800 Covid deaths, the collapse of the social sector, the massive unemployment stats and much more on public servants namely Permanent Secretaries.
He added that Permanent Secretaries are not the ones taking decisions at the Cabinet, they are not the ones formulating government policy and they are not the ones who decide on where the focus of the finances of the country will be. Padarath reminded the country that it was this same government and Prime Minister who placed several former Permanent Secretaries on State Boards and in advisory positions at Ministries. What it appears to be is a case of political expediency to blame Permanent Secretaries for the country’s woes and the failure of the government to deliver to the population instead of taking full responsibility and onus at the doorstep of the cabinet Padarath stated.