THE long-awaited Public Service Commission was yesterday formally appointed, and is expected to meet soon to pick a chairman from among its six members.
Sworn-in before President Bharrat Jagdeo at an early afternoon ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat in Georgetown, were former Public Service Minister, George Fung-On; former Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, John Worrell; businessman, David Yhann Jnr.; trade unionist, Leslie Melville; Chief Medical Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation, Dr Kissoon and Harry Narine Nawbatt, Head of the Poor Rural Support Services Programme (PRSSP).
The re-activation of the Commission ends a two-year hiatus that blocked appointments and affected other key public service business. Recent consultations between President Jagdeo and Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin, on the nominees cleared the way for the setting up of the body before the end of the year.
"I think that the Public Service, as a whole, is very, very happy that this moment has indeed arrived," Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, N.K Gopaul, told reporters after the brief swearing-in ceremony.
He said the Ministry was "burdened" with requests on employment, acting allowances and other issues, which "gave rise to dissatisfaction among public servants. "...this is a very happy moment...a number of issues of concern to public servants will be resolved," he added.
The new Commission will be "meeting very quickly" to determine its Chairman, Gopaul said. Commenting on the absence of a female member of the body, which will represent a public service of more than 60 per cent women, he said the appointments were made out of a process of consultation and consensus.
Gopaul, saying he was particularly pleased with the choice of Fung-On and Worrell, who are very experienced former public servants, noted that all the members have "impeccable integrity" and experience in administration, generally. As such, he did not see the absence of a woman rendering any difficulty.
This view was shared by Nawbatt, who has served in the public service since 1967 and was member of the previous Commission. He said while it would have been good to have a woman member, at least, the lack of one will not distract from the task set.
But Kissoon said given the composition of the public service and growing consideration of gender issues, he would have liked to see appropriate representation.
Melville, who has had 30 years experience in the public service and another 30 in the Guyana Public Service Union, felt it was a "serious omission."
"You cannot have a public service with more than 60 per cent women and...have a Commission which would preside over them and not have a woman present...," he said.
Nevertheless, Melville said the Commission was "all about" an industrial judicial system necessary in a democratic environment
"I am hoping that the things that we would expect in a democracy would exist at the level of the Public Service Commission," he told reporters.
President Jagdeo and Opposition Leader Corbin, who posed for pictures with the commissioners, left immediately afterwards for talks.
The two have also been consulting on nominees for the Police, Judicial and Teaching Service Commissions and President Jagdeo expressed optimism at a recent press conference that the appointments would have been made before the yearend.
He had said that he hoped to settle the issue of the appointment of Deputy Police Commissioner (Acting), Winston Felix, to Commissioner, so he could take office by January 1, 2004.