News that the Irfaan Ali Government closed the Bertram Collins College and fired the 50 plus employees should come as no surprise. The College’s closure is part of the government’s plan to undo everything the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change Government did that could help the ordinary man and improve governance. Whilst the government has kept the ceremonial trappings, albeit some of them frivolous, they are moving with haste to undo what could benefit Guyana and Guyanese.
The College, which was opened in 2016, was a wise idea given its aim to create a professional public sector. The training those young eager minds were exposed to not only prepared them for a world of work but service to country. This is the developmental approach the Ali government is apparently opposed to. They are acting as though they fear knowledge and professionalism which are qualities that would make it harder to disobey public sector rules and be corrupt.
During the People’s Progressive Party/Civic years in government they eroded professionalism in the public sector. After being out of office for five years, it would be challenging to function in an environment where systems were put in place to eradicate nepotism, cronyism, and corruption. They may find it difficult to govern where transparency and accountability are valued in the public sector.
The PPP/C Government is picking up from where they left off in 2015 in continuing to eviscerate the public sector of professionals and professionalism. There seems to be a desire to keep the sector in a state where political considerations and instructions reign supreme, and laws and rules cast aside. As the Bertram Collins College was closed so too was the Guyana Management Institute. The Institute trained and prepared Guyanese for middle and upper-level management in the public sector but was closed in the 1990s by the PPP/C government. The reasons they gave for closing the Institute are the same for closing the College.
Pity a nation whose government is not only afraid of smarts and a professional public service but also detests transparency and accountability. There is reason to be concerned that the haste the government is moving to dismantle institutions and structures that will keep them honest to the people. With the expected intake of oil and gas revenue Guyana needs more accountability, transparency and a professional public sector not less. But evidently the government is moving in the opposite direction and this can only be to their benefit not the people.
It is nothing short of a poor excuse by the government that the training division in the Ministry of Public could provide the needed training. The College aimed to train new recruits based on a holistic programme to understand the sector’s inner workings and the duty of the workers. This is different from orientation or requisite training needs based on specific issues.
It is also silly to argue that the recruits from the College entering at a Clerk III level bypass those at a level II and it is the latter that had to train the former. This is a norm in any organisation where new hires enter at a higher level. The new permanent secretaries are trained by the staff under them. Likewise, it is for any middle or upper-level manager recruited to any new department or organisation.
Evidence shows the PPP/C does better when people are ill-informed or poorly educated. The educated and informed question authority and are more predisposed to obeying laws because they know the value of compliance to the organisation, society and their reputation. The less questioning or respect for rules makes it a lot easier for corruption and nepotism to thrive. In the public sector workers are being made to feel no professionalism is not the preferred choice but financial rewards to be gained from turning a nelson’s eye, being complicit and helping themselves.
Dark days are ahead for the public sector. Nepotism and corruption will once again walk not in the shadows or out the door, but in the corridors of government buildings in broad daylight. The closure of the Bertram Collins College is a return to unprofessionalism in the public service and shutting out bright young minds from working in the public sector.
