This Discussion Paper examines two critical areas affecting public sector management in Belize and is divided in two parts relating to the situation of leadership and management of the Belize Public Service, and to the current politicized condition of the Main Public Service.
1 Leadership and Management – The Redefining of Roles
This part examines the argument that there should be a constitutional amendment to restore the post of Permanent Secretary which was replaced by the post of Chief Executive Officer in 2000. The underlying assumption is that this would signal an intention to introduce selection criteria to depoliticize permanent appointments to this key leadership position in the Public Service beyond service to the government of the day. This is interpreted to mean a move to reintroduce and reinforce the concept of a permanent professional policy advisory/supervisory head of government ministry – the Permanent Secretary. As envisaged by the Whitehall/Westminster model this post was adopted by most post-colonial countries, (including Belize until 2000). The underlying assumption is that establishing a form of permanent tenure for the position would assure ministerial access to a requisite blend of high level in situ policy advisory and policy execution expertise.
In most Commonwealth jurisdictions, appointments to the post are either directly by the Prime Minister through advice of special panels, or by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister as in the case for Belize. In their jurisdictions permanent secretary appointments are the responsibility of the Public Service Commission or Public Service Ministry after consultation with the Prime Minister. In Canada, the permanent head of ministry post is designated Deputy Minister who are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister.
In terms of functions defining the political/administrative interface, Section 41(2), and Section 48 of Part V of the Belize Constitution 19811 cite the function of ministers and permanent secretaries respectively as follows:
41(2) Where a Minister has been charged with responsibility for any department of government, he shall exercise general direction and control over that department of government.
48. Subject to the direction and control of the Minister pursuant to section 41(2) of this Constitution, every department of government shall be under the supervision of a public officer whose office is referred to in this Constitution as the office of a permanent secretary
Experience has shown that the political and administrative between ministers and permanent secretaries are often times difficult and requiring a mutual understanding of the roles to be played by each in fulfilling the objectives of the ministerial portfolio – differentiated between direction and control functions by the minister and the supervision function by the permanent secretary.
An amendment to the Belize Constitution 20002 substituted without change of function the position of Permanent Secretary for that of Chief Executive Officer.
48 Subject to the direction and control of the Minister pursuant to section 41(2) of this Constitution, every department of government shall be under the supervision of a public officer whose office is referred to in this Constitution as the office of a Chief Executive Officer:
Provided that two or more government departments may be placed under the supervision of one Chief Executive Officer. 49.-(1)
Each change of political party in Government since Belize attained Independence in 1981 has been occasioned by an increasing politicization of the leadership position at the highest level of the Public Service, the Permanent Secretary, and after 2000, to the re-designated position of contractually retained Chief Executive Officer. This change of nomenclature can be seen as a tacit recognition of the post-independence experience where incoming governments, distrustful of the senior managers inherited from outgoing governments, increasingly replaced them with politically selected persons, not necessarily policy or managerial professionals. The factor of political allegiance to the ruling party acquired a greater role in the candidate selection process. It has been argued that this transition may also have been influenced by the New Public Management’ philosophy espoused by the World Bank and endorsed by CARICOM Heads of Government in 19963 wherein reform of public sector management would more closely pattern efficiency based and management by objective business sector practices.
However there is no evidence from the accepted recommendations of the 1999 Political Reform Commission4 that this change management philosophy was the underlying consideration behind the change of nomenclature to Chief Executive Officer. This was a direct act to remove a ‘redundancy’ created by the evolution in political perception of the role of the head of ministry, where ministerial insertion into the supervisory/executive functions of the ministry organization led to conflict and blurring of the role of the Permanent Secretary. This is borne out by the absence of any accompanying measure of devolution of authority to the CEO position which bestowed increased autonomy in decision making over human and financial resources. The strictures of the highly centralized system of public financial management continued (perhaps for the better) and the current highly politicized usurpation of public service recruitment took full sway.
Retrospectively, given the propensity to appoint highly political CEOs whose proclivity tend to be to execute without question, all political directives, such devolution of authority would have produced results even more deleterious than what generally characterizes the policy making milieu at this time – often resulting in the vigorous implementation of wrong policy.
Perhaps, therefore; the best test for the restoration of a permanent corps of professional administrative heads of ministry organizations is for an incoming government to recruit/retain the services of those CEOS who have not been overtly political in their actions, who were respected by their staff, and who have displayed notable professional competence in the performance of their duties. While appointments and termination of services would continue to be by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister, an incoming government could by custom if not by law, institutionalize adherence to the principle of recruiting for the high level appointment of Permanent secretary or Chief Executive Officer, whatever the nomenclature, those policy professionals with previous service who possess the attributes hitherto described. A small technical advisory group could be constituted to screen these professionals and also assess potential new entrants to the corps. This exercise could be initiated prior to the holding of General Elections as part of a review to determine policy and a well thought out course of action on the future Public Service.
A critical and absolutely necessary adjunct to this exercise is the need for preparation of politicians to function in the ministerial capacity. The assigning of Shadow Minister Portfolios enables Opposition Party designates to familiarize themselves with the policy dimension. There is also the opportunity to access sources of practical experience and expertise, along with relevant studies and reviews particularly those generated by Commonwealth sources including CARICOM.
In this context it is useful to consider a role for seasoned political advisers to ministers in ‘politically sensitive’ ministries who could provide counsel on political, policy and media issues. Past experiments with this in Belize have failed because of competence issues and the lack of definition of roles between advisers and administrative heads of ministries.
2 Depoliticizing the Main Public Service
The current situation of the Main Public Service exhibits the effects of its systematic politicization over the past ten years. There is a prevalent view that this has caused irreparable damage to a system which is required by law to be impartial, fair and non-political in its delivery of public services.
There is another line of thinking that there are remedial measures which can be implemented that are integral to and a corollary of the same political ethos that would see the restoration of a permanent, professional corps of high level public officers.
A massive erosion of the merit based recruitment system has been inflicted by the politically directed determination of appointments at all levels of the Belize Public Service, including the Security Services. This has been accomplished by imposing direct political control over the Public Service Commission which is now chaired by a former UDP Minister of the Public Service.
The system where suitably qualified persons are required to apply and be screened for vacant positions through the Ministry of the Public Service has given way to appointments by political referrals inevitably resulting in a general lowering of standards.
The current situation represents a clear breach of the Government of Belize’s obligation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption UNCAC , Chapter 2, Prevention Measures-mandatory Article 75- which inter alia requires that: ‘Each State Party shall, where appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of its legal system, endeavour to adopt, maintain and strengthen systems for the recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion and retirement of civil servants and, where appropriate, other non-elected public officials:
The implication is that a general ‘weeding out’ exercise will be necessary to remove the more egregious cases of unqualified appointees.
Of greater significance and difficulty is the process of depoliticizing which needs to be adopted, principal of which is to install capable, neutral/ non-political leadership and membership to the Public Services Commission in order to reactivate and restore the system of merit based recruitment. A similar approach is required to restore a culture of professional managerialism in the Ministry responsible for the Public Service, and in the respective ministries of government.
Concomitantly attention must be given to enforcing the Public Service Code of Conduct as it relates to the proscription of public officers from engaging in political activity. This could take the form of a retroactive ‘weeding out’ of the more egregious cases of overt political engagement by serving public officers who through due process are determined to be in breach of the Code.
Along with this the Government of Belize should issue a clear message to public officers reminding them of the Code of Conduct6 which applies equally to the Permanent Secretary/Chief Executive Officer cadre requiring their full adherence to its provisions:
60. (1) A public officer shall not participate actively on behalf of any political party or candidate in any elections held under the – (a) Representation of the People Act; (b) Belize City Council Act; (c) Belmopan City Council Act; (d) Town Councils Act; or Use of government vehicles.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of sub regulation (1), a public officer shall not –
(a) accept nomination for election as a candidate, or appointment to an office of a political party whether paid or unpaid;
(b) offer himself as candidate for election under any of the Acts specified in sub regulation (1), unless he first resigns from the public service;
(c) make speeches or answer questions at public meetings in a manner which indicates support for, or antipathy towards, any political party or politician;
(d) assist in the election campaign of political candidates;
(e) write letters to the press which refer to political matters and indicate party bias;
(f) distribute literature which advocates the pursuance of a particular party policy;
(g) show favour to members of a particular party when dealing with the public or when dealing with any form of public business;
(h) solicit funds for any candidate or any political party; or
(i) engage in any activity of a party political nature
Conclusion
Any measure for rectification or remedial action should comprehensively identify and assess all relevant factors, re-examining and defining what role is expected of a Permanent Secretary/Chief Executive Officer and what steps should be taken to quickly restore a fully functional merit based Public Service. There has been a general attitude of disdain for expert reviews, credible sources of which are very accessible. This has contributed to the techno-structural weakness in the development of the mid-level policy executive, administrative, financial management and audit cadres in ministries and Departments. They are potential sources of high level public service recruitment. This should be given priority attention by any government which is serious about improving the quality and efficiency of public service delivery.
-Centre For Strategic Studies, Policy Analysis & Research (C-SSPAR), August 2019-