Statement by Minister of Public Service, Hon. Sonia Parag in response to Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.

Please allow me the opportunity to respond to comments made by my predecessor, Mrs. Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, in relation to the following revelations made during my news conference on Monday, August 24, 2020.

In doing so I wish to highlight the following;

1. That there is nothing to familiarise oneself (as the former Minister alluded to in her hastily put together public missive yesterday) when it comes to professionalism, ethics, moral behaviour and conduct. These are basic qualities of any professional. The former Minister’s tenure under the previous administration did not yield any constructive or progressive policies in professionalising or modernising the Public Service; she merely toed the line.

2. Relative to the demographic scholarship chart released by the former Minister, I wish to highlight that what Mrs. Sarabo- Halley did was support my point that the award of scholarships was skewed in favour of one demographic. It further highlighted my point that indeed reforms are needed to ensure scholarships are awarded based on merit and not party allegiance as was the case under the previous government. When one examines the chart, it is clear that Region Four was awarded four times more scholarships than Region Six and, three and a half times more than Region Three and Region Ten. Additionally, Regions One, Two, Seven, Eight and Nine were awarded 5,7,4,1 and 4 scholarships respectively for the entire 2019.  That ranged from 15 times to 111 times less when compared with Region Four. 

While I fully understand population density varies according to Regions; how does one explain to the people of Region Two that for an entire year, only 7 scholarships and Region Eight, only 1 student was awarded a scholarship?

Furthermore, how does the former minister explain the fact that a young man who has applied six times to specialise in neurology was denied a scholarship six times and issued different reasons each time for so denying, especially given the fact that there is relevance for such field of study in Guyana?

How does the former Minister juxtapose this against the award of full scholarships to two of her Cabinet colleagues and the children of another while brilliant young Guyanese coming from vulnerable groups are denied the opportunity to further qualify themselves? The complaints have been manifested and it is from that standpoint I made such a statement.

It is noteworthy to state that prior to 2015, scholarships were offered to every hinterland student who attained higher education. However, after the APNU+AFC assumed office, that was disbanded, automatically giving them limited opportunities.

I wish to state categorically, that the PPP/C government will re-introduce this policy to ensure that hinterland students are not left behind.

3. The former Minister posited about the regularisation of the Public Service whereby 5000 employees were transitioned to pensionable establishment. However, this is nothing new. The PPP/C government in the 2000s conducted a payroll audit and transitioned every temporary employee to pensionable.

The bottom-line is the Public Service Ministry is crying out for reform and as I said from the onset, my primary objective is to reform, modernize and professionalize the public service, while ensuring it is fair and equitable to all Guyanese.

I do not wish to spend any more time responding to the other issues raised by the former Minister as it would only serve to highlight the gravity of incompetence and mismanagement of this great Ministry.