Public servants said yesterday they feld disrespected by the bouff from the Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat.
Even the president of the Public Service Association, Watson Duke, thought the minister’s statement to be one that would affect the morale of the public servants but in the words of Christ said: “He is forgiven because he does not know what he says.”
Duke said he would chalk up the minister’s statement to “ignorance and lack of experience.”
“He should desist from making that statement again.
“Some say that people in office (referring to ministers) do not know the brunt of challenges that they are met with when they report to work on a daily basis,” Duke said.
Rambharat said on Tuesday non-performing public servants from the Land Management Division were preventing him from doing his job. He said he was frustrated by the lack of co-operation in that division as he tried to stamp out land grabbing.
One worker at the ministry, who spoke on the condition anonymity, said dealing with members of the public was not an easy task.
“People feel that we are magicians here at the ministry and can get everything done at the same time for them but there are procedures to follow. Also, there are only so much work that one person can do when the day comes,” the worker said.
Duke said public servants were the ones that felt the economic crunch and were the ones suffering and “despite all that they still do a lot of the country. They are the ones who got the country to this point and have been pushing the country forward.
“Clarence needs to be careful of his words. It has not been since a year yet that he is in office and all of a sudden he becomes an authority to public servants. It is inappropriate and selfish of the minister,” he said.
Asked if public servants were getting the necessities to carry out their duties, Duke replied:
“No. They are not providing the proper office space, not providing proper infrastructure, proper training—as the public service academy stands as a white elephant—and also, the motivation factor, delayed payments and non-payments make them feel they are not important.”
He said despite all that, public servants continued to make sacrifices for the country.
Asked to elaborate on his statement, Rambharat said yesterday he was specifically addressing the issue of complaints that phones were not being answered and that people were not being able to find out what was going on with land transactions.
“I was also addressing the issue of enforcement of the retractions on use of lands for agricultural purposes only.
“We are currently working on a plan to rebuild the capacity of the Land Management Division to process applications and respond to the public in a timely manner. We are also dealing with the issue of enforcement and the need to strengthen our capacity for enforcement,” Rambharat said.
Asked if any action would be taken against idle workers or if they could face disciplinary action, Rambharat said that disciplinary action was a matter for the permanent secretary at the ministry.
“Appropriate action includes finding others ways to get the work done,” he added.