The first batch of graduating cadets from the Bertram Collins College of the Public Service were Monday charged to change archaic systems in the public service that are counterproductive and wasting taxpayer’s money.
The 58 graduating cadets were told by Executive Director Lawrence Paul that they now have a new mandate of being responsive to the needs of the public while also being the glue that will hold the efficiency of the current and future administrations.
Retired Col Lawrence was backed up in his charge by President David Granger who has been credited with the vision of establishing the College soon after he became President in 2015.
Mr. Granger, who along with the APNU+AFC coalition, campaigned on a promise of change said that change cannot be realized by maintaining unchanged institutions.
“Change is a continuous process and if public service is to change the country much more needs to be done,” he said.
The President reminded that the decision to establish the college was not whimsical but calculated and based on a need to develop a professional public service.
“You cannot become a public servant by simply walking off the street and passing an interview. That is not enough… there must be a process of becoming a public servant,” he reasoned.
President Granger said his expectation that these trained batches of public servants who will enter the public service on an annual basis must have the values of integrity, impartiality, objectivity and corporate identity.
“An unbribable public service” he reminded was the aim of his government through the establishment of the College.
Retired Col Lawrence delivered the college report in which he pointed out that the College now has 31 administrative and academic staff members and 118 cadets.
He was keen to note that the college is meant to transform the public service to ensure that public servants remain loyal to the government of the day, of whatever political persuasion.
“In fact, that should be the pole of attraction for public servants and that is why the college has adopted integrity, impartiality, and objectivity as its motto.”
Lawrence disclosed that a new college will soon be erected on a 21-acre plot of land at Ogle with a US$10 million grant from the Government of China.
Already, an official Act for the College has been ratified by the Ministry of Legal Affairs and will be tabled in the National Assembly next year so that the college can become an autonomous entity.
Accreditation for the college from the University of Guyana is also being pursued.
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