Finance minister lauds civil servants
MINISTER OF Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke has praised Jamaica’s civil servants for their unwavering commitment to duty, which he said has resulted in the country’s public sector being ranked as the best in the Caribbean.
Noting that “we couldn’t function without the civil service that we have today”, the minister said that “the record shows that ... Jamaica stands head and shoulders above ... the civil services in our region”.
“It is, therefore, fitting for us to take [the] time to recognise the thousands of members ... and, by so doing, [not only] promote this [as a] career choice to others looking on but also provide fulfilment [and] job satisfaction to those [who] are involved,” Clarke said.
He was speaking at the launch of Civil Service Week 2019 on Wednesday, November 13, at the finance ministry’s offices in Kingston.
Civil Service Week is being observed from November 17 to 22 under the theme ‘Building and Sustaining a Culture of Excellence’.
Clarke said that the collective vision for Jamaica’s advancement to developed country status is one “that cannot be achieved without an effective, efficient, productive, and highly motivated civil service”.
As such, he argued, it is practical for the Government to continue investing in the service in order to bolster its functions and effectiveness, and several transformative initiatives to this end have been embarked on.
These engagements, Clarke pointed out, include greater utilisation of technology in the delivery of services and ensuring adequate allocation of resources in areas where there is significant demand.
In his remarks, Jamaica Civil Service Association President O’Neil Grant said that the recognition accorded to public-sector employees, particularly during the designated week, was welcome.
He said that the activities organised will assist in highlighting the public service to the wider country and provide persons with the opportunity to interact with civil servants.
“One of the things that we hope for in future iterations of Civil Service Week is an expansion of the various programmes that will allow for the average Jamaican to walk into a public-sector entity to see how we work and [thereby] appreciate the service that we give to the country,” the president added.
Grant also emphasised the need for collective recognition of the fact that Jamaica’s successful navigation of arrangements forged with various multilateral partners “could not have been accomplished without the work of the public servants”.