Dear Editor,

Over the last two weeks I have listened to a number of the seasoned PPP “Ministers” take to the media to spew misinformation and I hoped that the new Ministers would choose to develop an ethos of remaining objective and committed to the truth even as they seek to advance their policies. However, After Ms. Parag’s press conference yesterday I am forced to respond to some of the statements she made given that a decision was made by her to fall into the category of those who feel the need to criticize everything done under the previous administration.

Permit me to respond to some of the statements made by Ms Parag.

In keeping with the COI into the Public Service which recommended that all public servants on contract employment be transferred to the fixed establishment, over 5000 public servants have transitioned from contract to the fixed establishment. Most persons who remain on contract at the Department of Public Service and throughout the public service are persons over the age of 45 who cannot be put onto the fixed establishment.

President David Granger on August 08th, 2018 administered the Oath of office to the members of the Public Service Commission (PSC) for a three-year period.  The Public Service Commission is a constitutional commission, thus the statement made by the Minister that the PSC is not constituted is troubling and should be clarified.

It is not practical  to have one fixed timeline for the award of scholarships as the timelines vary based on a number of factors, including:

If the scholarship is to the University of Guyana

 If the scholarship is based on a bilateral agreement and certain information from the donor country is vital for the process to move forward.

The start date of the programme of study being considered which varies across universities

 Ms. Parag’s statement that scholarships have been “skewed to one demographic and geographic in Guyana” can only be seen for what it is, an intrinsic view of the PPP that the APNU+AFC would continue to do what they had done while in office. I can assure the Minister that when she actually gets a chance to look at the data she would have no choice but to recognize that it is her statements and beliefs that are skewed and not the management of the scholarships department over the last 5 years. Please note the following:

•  The scholarships awarded are consistent with applications received. If candidates from a particular ethnic group apply for scholarships more than others then the scholarships awarded will be consistent with this fact.  Further, over the past five years, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs was allocated a fixed a percentage of scholarships by the Department of the Public Service annually. So it is impossible to just look at the names of persons and determine their ethnic origin, as attempted by Ms. Parag.

•   Under the APNU+AFC administration the scholarships selection committee was reconstituted to represent the multiethnic nature of our society and allow for a more transparent process in the awarding of scholarships.

•  Ms. Parag observes the limited human resources skills across the public service but is unsure what will be done with the Bertram Collins College of the Public Service. This attests to the PPP’s inclination to destroy anything developed by the Granger Administration regardless of the financial and social cost. So she plans to create a code of conduct for Public Servant but sees little value in a training institution that can provide holistic training, far beyond codes of conduct.

On the issue of the demographics of the scholarships awarded, at the beginning of this year an analysis was done of the scholarships given out in 2019 for students to attend the University of Guyana. It can be seen that the scholarships awarded were consistent with the population of each region. What must also be noted is that some of our Indigenous students staying in Region 4 or the Amerindian Hostel used Region 4 addresses and thus were captured under Region 4’s data.

Ms. Parag should become familiar with the workings of the department instead of rushing to criticize a system she could not possibly grasp in two weeks.

Yours faithfully,

Tabitha Sarabo-Halley

Former Minister of Public Service