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Bad timing, CEOs?

EditorialBad timing, CEOs?

Mon. Jan. 17, 2022
The recent Cabinet reshuffle, with the principal focus on the beleaguered Ministry of Health and Wellness, which experienced great unease and upheavals at the CEO level during the tenure of Minister Michel Chebat, may lead to improvement in the situation in that ministry under newly assigned Health Minister Kevin Bernard; but the situation begs the question, if this whole CEO matter needs to be seriously examined to determine if it has delivered the desired improvements in performance and services to the public over the previous post of Permanent Secretary. With the benefit of hindsight and careful analysis, government may now determine where the weaknesses lie in its CEO arrangement, and what can be done to correct those shortcomings, or if, indeed, as has been suggested before, it is worthwhile reverting to the previous system of Permanent Secretaries.

First of all, it should be acknowledged that the absence of major public outbursts in other government ministries is not an indication that they have all been functioning at the optimal level of efficiency. The situation in the MOHW may have escalated due to personality issues concerning Minister Chebat, but, unlike other ministries, the MOHW was enduring tremendous stress and demands for services due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only when a tool or machinery is tested under stressful conditions, will the inherent weaknesses be revealed. The easy deduction is that it was just a case of a minister mishandling his CEO, so that there was friction, and thus CEOs were going in and out of the position. But a real “forensic” analysis will confirm if there are indeed some structural deficiencies in the current CEO structure inside the public service that leads to such friction and upheavals. For that matter, other ministries may be quietly stumbling with shortcomings due to the CEO arrangement, but this goes unnoticed because there has been no great spotlight and stress that can parallel what the MOHW faces due to Covid.

There have recently been complaints from the current Commissioner of Police about the existence of “rogue cops” within the ranks of his Police Department, and it is his endeavor to try and weed them out. But it has also recently been revealed that, during the past UDP administration, it was the norm, in fact even an apparent requirement, for an aspiring recruit to receive a recommendation letter from the then police minister. The highly competitive recruit squad process was thus tainted by political cronyism, and we may now be reaping the chaff from this flawed exercise. And it makes us wonder, in light of the current national crime and corruption problem, if similar practices had become the norm in our governance process, where political favoritism is prioritized over merit and ability to perform. With the recent reports of the Commission of Inquiry into the “fire sale” of government vehicles in the last months of the UDP administration, as well as the still to be disclosed final report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Immigration Department during the same UDP tenure, it would seem that corruption has probably spread throughout our government system.

In some decades past, Belizean visitors to Chetumal used to tell stories of the practice of “murdida” they encountered while dealing with some Mexican officials in different agencies, i.e. traffic, immigration, police. Not all officials are corrupt, of course, but those who are can give a bad name to their whole department; and of late, Belizeans have experienced similar situations on our own soil from corrupt Belize officials.

From all indications, it was the first-time UDP government of 1984 that saw the need to enlist Executive Officers in the ministries of government then under the stewardship of the established Permanent Secretary system. The reasoning may have seemed justified at the time. After all, from self-government in 1964, Belize was ruled by a PUP government, and naturally, all the heads of department and permanent secretaries were appointed under a PUP administration. Being positions with “tenure,” those top individuals in the public service may have been viewed, or because of their behavior were considered, by the new UDP government leaders to be uncooperative or not showing allegiance to their new political bosses. There might have been some truth to that allegation, for long service and acquaintance had to have had an effect on the public service members; but, likewise, the landslide victory for the UDP also had to have been a result of many former PUP voters casting their ballots for the UDP, and some of them likely were public officers. Nevertheless, after decades of PUP rule, it would have to be considered natural that a period of accommodation and adjustment would be needed for the new leaders to enjoy the full confidence and enthusiasm of the various heads of department and permanent secretaries they encountered on assuming their ministerial posts. Were there some real “bad apples” among the permanent secretaries they inherited from the PUP, why the UDP felt they had to install Executive Officers alongside them to ensure their agenda was being followed? Or were the UDP too hasty in their decision to employ Executive Officers? Timing is an important factor in most major decisions, and twenty-twenty hindsight would indicate that a little more patience might have served them and the country better.

Belize inherited a Westminster style of government from our former colonial rulers, and in this system, where the public service is concerned, it shouldn’t matter which political party forms the government. According to en.wikipedia.org, “Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil service chief executives of government departments, who generally hold their position for a number of years (thus ‘permanent’) at a ministry as distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report and provide advice.” What they call “political secretaries of state” is what we refer to as our “ministers of government.” So, a properly functioning civil service should perform its tasks professionally regardless of which party forms the government. And the Public Service Commission is there to ensure that they do their job professionally.

Well, then, after changing places with the UDP a few times, with executive officers alongside the permanent secretaries, the PUP finally decided, when they enjoyed an overwhelming majority in the House in 1998, to go all the way and abolish the permanent secretary post altogether, while replacing the executive officer with a full CEO (chief executive officer) post. And, regretfully, we now know what the unbridled political control of the public service machinery has cost the nation over the past two decades.

So now, as governments come and go, the CEO’s get changed. And not only do the army of workers in the public service departments now have to adjust to a new CEO whenever there is a change of government, but more than that, the new CEO has to also find a fit and understanding of the personnel and machinery of that ministry. Furthermore, while it was a requirement for all permanent secretaries to have a long track record of training, performance and experience in the public service, not all CEO’s, despite their private sector credentials, were up to the task, and the evidence may lie in the number of political/financial scandals involving ministers of government during the recent era of CEOs.
Is it the case that we Belizeans, because of our politicians’ ego and expediency, have seen our governance system go “back way”? And are our government leaders now too embarrassed to say, ‘I was wrong’?

Was it all a bad mistake to bring in this “come and go” CEO post to replace the long-serving permanent secretary, which provided a check and balance against ministerial indiscretion?

Perhaps, we can save face and keep the CEO name, but revert back to the permanent secretary- type requirements and permanency of the post. After all, when you had said that “VAT is a killer,” you just had to change its name to “GST.”

Respect to the Father of the Nation! Long live Belize! Power to the people!

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