Georgetown: Despite criticising former PPP/C administrations for subverting the public service through the heavy use of contract workers, the APNU+AFC Coalition government has not only continued the practice but has more than doubled the number of contract workers in some government agencies.
In its Budget Focus 2016, chartered accounting firm Ram and McRae drew attention to the retention of public servants as contracted employees, while noting that the numbers and cost had increased.
The Ministry of the Presidency, it noted, reported an increase in contract employees from 298 in 2015 to 505 in 2016, as well as an increase in the cost of wages and salaries for contract employees from $142M to $798M.
“This makes a mockery of the idea of the Public Service Commission and approved appointments, the hallmarks of good human resource management in the public service. We sincerely believe that President Granger has the authority to end this abuse. We look to him to act on the matter,” it added.
Under “Who Gets What in 2016” section of the report, Ram and McRae said it believes there is an omission in the Budget regarding the Fiscal Transfers Act and “this is key to the functioning of the Local Government system as it provides the finances to the newly elected bodies in the upcoming Local Government Elections.”
The 2016 budget focused heavily on reducing revenue leakages. To this end the review points out that much will depend on the Revenue Authority (GRA) returning to normalcy in a year when it is likely to be distracted by a Forensic Audit and for the first time in its existence will be without a substantive Commissioner General and deputy Commissioner General.
Ram & McRae noted that while the budget is the largest ever, it also reflects a massive deficit and but believes its projections were both ambitious and realizable.
“It is regrettable that the largest Budget ever, of which a huge chunk is for capital expenditure, will probably operate in the absence of the constitutionally mandated Public Procurement Commission for which only a nominal $1,000 is provided in the Budget,” the review points out.
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