Prime Minister Gaston Browne has issued a stern warning to public servants in Antigua and Barbuda, ‘shape up or ship out’ as his government will no longer to ‘putting up’ with the lethargy and incompetence that have plagued the public sector for many years.
Speaking in the House of Representatives on Thursday, PM Browne said the inefficiencies within the system have reached the point where drastic actions must take place. “There is a lot of lethargy within the public sector especially among low level staff and let me say that as of now, heads are going to roll; we have had ten years protecting incompetence in this country; it is finished,” he declared.
The prime minister noted that at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting he was chided by one of his colleagues who noted that as prime minister, he did not want to fire anyone.
“Public servants have a right to protect their jobs by performing and I am saying here that type of benevolence is finished. So I am signaling to public servants; do your jobs or suffer the consequences. We are not discriminating against anybody, but this idea that we just use this ‘soft-hand’ and we try to protect them, it is finished. I have done enough of that,” he emphasized.
The prime minister explained that as someone who grew up in abject poverty, he never wants to see anyone loses his/her job. This, he noted, was his overarching philosophy, however, when persons are frustrating the government’s operation through their inaction, then something has to give.
PM Browne said his statements should not be interpreted as a threat to anyone, however, as prime minister he is calling on all public servants to perform the tasks assigned to them in the interest of Antigua and Barbuda.
