Dennie Quill, Contributor

The handling of the Cuban light bulb project does not appear to have passed the smell test. While the nation awaits the outcome of investigations, it is generally agreed that the allegations of financial mismanagement made by Minister Clive Mullings are serious ones. In the meantime, there are also clouds gathering over the much-troubled waste management authority judging from the sounds coming from Minister of State Robert Montague. This means within the next few months, we can expect to hear much more about the financial mismanagement/abuse of government finances. The involvement of the police suggests that persons may face criminal charges for malfeasance under their watch.

While the politicians cannot dodge ultimate responsibility for the actions of their ministries, it is conceivable that some may want to blame sloppy administration within their ministries for financial mismanagement. It means that we may also have to place Permanent Secretaries and chairmen of public sector boards under the microscope. Permanent Secretaries are charged with the day-to-day operations of their ministries. They are expected to be impartial, honest and fearless in carrying out their functions.

Politically neutral

As the name 'permanent' implies, these senior civil servants are expected to be, politically neutral so that they can carry out the function of assisting the Government of the day in formulating policies, carrying out directives and administering public service. The figure of the powerful civil servant offering policy options to politicians and standing up to politically connected board chairmen seems passé. Today, the profile of some high-ranking civil servants is akin to that of a clerical officer blindly carrying out instructions of board chairmen or politicians.

The Jamaican civil service is largely patterned off the Westminster model with the Permanent Secretary being the chief accounting officer of the ministry, with primary responsibility for managing the financial affairs of the ministry. Their duties include financial planning, resources allocation, record-keeping and financial reporting. The Permanent Secretaries are accountable to Parliament and are charged with the responsibility of giving the public via Parliament full information about government policies, decisions and actions. Yet, year after year, the Contractor General points fingers at some ministries for poor financial management and lack of administrative oversight resulting in waste of money and other resources. I cannot recall any Permanent Secretary being dismissed for incompetence or dereliction of duty.

To be fair, I believe the jobs of some civil servants have been made more difficult by the growing practice of creating political appointees known as 'special advisers' to various ministries.

Although they operate like civil servants, they are, in fact, strategically placed to do the bidding of the politician. In many instances, the activities of these appointees have served to water down the intended political neutrality of the civil service. For example, one hears of a minister jetting off to faraway places with a special adviser to negotiate important deals on behalf of Government with no input from civil servants.

Freedom of Information Act

The Cabinet Secretary, the capable Carlton Davis, is the current head of the civil service and one believes he is the type of person who would defend his Permanent Secretaries if there are instances of interference from the political branch. From the outside, we cannot tell whether there have been any bruising encounters between politicians and civil servants. It would be pretty interesting for the media to use the powers of the Freedom of Information Act to take a peek into the minutes of the meetings held with Permanent Secretaries in a bid to determine whether any of them have suffered from political manipulation and interference. One has to also consider the fear factor. Are Permanent Secretaries and other civil servants confident that their jobs will be safe if they blow the whistle? High time for the promised whistle-blowing legislation to be put in place.

P.S. I am overjoyed to see that prisoners are being used to bush the May Pen cemetery and coming so quickly after my column on the need to treat the dead with dignity and recognise cemeteries as places of interest. Good going.