EDITORIAL - Now is the time to act

On the heels of last week’s presentation of the Budget in Parliament, there have been numerous views posited by economic pundits on the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposals put forward by Barbados’ Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler. However, to the average Barbadian, the Budget seems to focus mostly on increasing revenue from additional taxes – namely the proposed increase of the National Social Responsibility (NSR) levy from two per cent to ten per cent, and the implementation of a foreign exchange commission on all sales of foreign currency at a rate of 2% – and not enough focus is being given to reining in government expenditure.

It is a fact that government’s expenditure is one of the reasons for this country’s current economic crisis. One area of concern is the high debt and high interest repayments which sees this country forking over huge sums each year. However, another part of the expenditure is attributed to a burdensome public sector wage bill.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart addressed this area of interest in his contribution to the Budget debate, when he replied to those calling for any job cuts to include “the upper realms of the public service” too. The PM contended that sending home public servants and unleashing “a number of people to go out there in society and to have to fend for themselves in very difficult circumstances” is not the answer to the problem. He stated, “We do not feel that the workers of Barbados, certainly the public workers of Barbados, have created the problems that we are in and we do not see why they should be the burden bearers in all of this.”

We commend the Prime Minister for this stance. No one wants to see fellow citizens lose their jobs, their livelihoods and be sent home unemployed. As human beings and citizens in a Christian society, it is in our nature not to want to see others suffer. We are sure that local union representatives agree with this perspective.

However, there is no denying that the public sector needs to be improved upon. There has to be some clean-up done to make it more efficient and productive, because in its present state it is contributing directly and indirectly to loss of revenue for individuals and for this country.

For years complaints have abounded about the bureaucratic red tape, long wait times and general lack of efficient customer service when dealing with Government departments. This has led to Barbados being ranked around position 119 out of a total of over 180 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Survey. Even the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss has commented on this state of affairs. Added to this is the loss of productivity through individuals leaving their jobs to conduct business in the public sector.

If ever there was a time for public servants to pick up the slack and do better in their jobs, now is the time. If ever there was a time for the Office of Public Sector Reform to follow through on its mission statement, “to initiate and facilitate organisational transformation and renewal through innovative programmes and the provision of advisory services to foster a professional and performance-oriented culture in public sector agencies”, now is the time.

Now is the time to for everyone in this country to pull their weight so Barbados can compete effectively.