PRESIDENT of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Eddie Abed, wants Government to merge those State agencies where there is duplication of services.

 

The President has maintained that while Government’s options to trim the national deficit are limited, the long-awaited critique of government agencies and statutory boards is now imminent.

 

Arguing that there is duplication of State-run agencies tasked with similar mandates, he said bluntly that “they should be merged”.

 

“In addition, there are many more workers in the public sector compared to the private sector who are non-incentivised; and quite frankly, this is reflected in the lacklustre service meted out by those entities,” the BCCI President noted.

 

Abed said that the size of Government’s ongoing budgetary transfers to State-run enterprises, has for many years been unsustainable, and a reality that all modern societies have had to deal with.

“When tough decisions are to be made, the greater good of the country and all of its citizens must be paramount,” he remarked.

 

The BCCI President called for a safe and healthy environment where citizens are expected to work and to interact with the public. Properly trained managers must set the expectations of the organisation as well as discipline those who fail to uphold it while rewarding those who do, he reasoned.

 

Abed said that the uncertainty of expectations by the general public can only be remedied by consistently good professional and efficient service, which will go a long way in moving us up the world’s index ranking for the ease of doing business.