YESTERDAY's formal appointment of members to the Public Service Commission (PSC) formally brought a closure to a chapter in Guyanese history that we hope won't be repeated - a two-year delay in the reactivation of a framework that is vital to the forging of a highly performing public service.
The delay constitutes one of the greatest ironies of our time. That is, the two-year delay has been attributed to an opposition that has sought to create a firestorm of controversy over its claims that the government does little but procrastinates.
The opposition's decision to come in from the cold, if you will, is a major victory for a Guyanese citizenry long clamoring for a public capable of addressing the emergence of new demands from the business community and civil society.
President Bharrat Jagdeo said two weeks ago that he has had to resist a World Bank/IMF call for government to downsize the public service by at least a thousand workers. No government likes to send home workers. But even without the prompting of international donor agencies, government will have to consider options geared to bringing the public sector in line with results-oriented counterparts in, say, the United Kingdom.
When the Public Service Commission begins its work, after its six members will have elected or selected a chairman, it would do well to study the programme that the Office of Public Service Reform (OPSR) of the British Prime Minister's Office has devised for Britain's public service.
OPSR is responsible for driving, challenging and facilitating the reform of public services in accordance with the Prime Minister's four Principles of Reform, in order to improve customer experience.
OPSR online says the Office does this by "developing and disseminating the reform agenda, working with departments to embed reform and identify best practice, and measuring perceptions, attitudes and progress of reform to inform the next phase."
OPSR concentrates on two cross-cutting projects: Customer Focus - moving away from the "one size fits all" approach to providing a service around the needs of the customer - patients, pupils, passengers as well as the wider general public; and Empowering the Frontline - supporting and challenging departments to reduce bureaucracy to help the front line to deliver; and promoting leadership and workforce capacity building in order to improve front line performance.
According to online information, the work of OPSR is underpinned by the Prime Minister's four principles of public service reform as set out in "Reforming public services: principles into practice" - published in March 2002 - which set out the Government's overall strategy for public services reform, and how this is being taken forward in education, health, law & order, transport and local government.
There's no denying that Guyana's public service is not as capable as it ought to be to effectively deliver public services designed around the needs of the country's business sector and the general public.
In its April 1989 report on Guyana's economy, a Commonwealth Advisory Group recommended that priority attention be given to the reform of the public service in order for it to respond to the challenges and demands of today's society.
Government is playing its role as facilitator, ever committed to operating within the framework, to paraphrase the OPSR, "of clear accountability, designed to ensure that citizens have the right to high quality services wherever they live."