Thank you kindly M. Chair,
Mr. Dorbrene O'marde, Director of Kingdome Consultants, Mr. Anthony Liverpool, Director of Kingdome Consultants; Dr. Lucien Naarden, Master Licensee for the Caribbean, Other LMI Associates; Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

I deem it an honour and a special privilege to have been asked to address this august body on leadership and management development in Antigua and Barbuda. I wish however to begin by offering my sincerest best wishes to your organization for the enormous wealth of opportunity and resources which I believe you will offer for training and development in leadership not only in the private sector but also the public sector in Antigua and Barbuda.

When we accepted the mandate to govern some two years ago, we were acutely conscious of the negative reputation surrounding the public service. We were aware of the cries of the public for greater accountability, professionalism and efficiency from public servants. This was one problem which we knew we had to fix and we realized that there had to be some infusion of fresh, new ways of leading, administering and managing the most precious and valuable resources in any organization- it's Human resources.

I wish to focus first on the relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government, because this is critical to the kind of quality management and improved competencies within the public service which we as a government envisioned.

As a new government, coming into office on the heels of one which dominated the political landscape for decades, we realized that it was/ and is absolutely essential for Ministers and Permanent Secretaries to forge a harmonious working relationship with each other in order to move policy from paper and ideas to tangible programmes to be implemented.

In the Westminster-Whitehall system of political democracy which we adhere to, policy formulation is seen as the exclusive right of the legislative arm of government and the implementation of those policies, which are held as a non-political function, as the proper task of the administrative agencies.

However, Public policy formation and execution require that policies and administration do not exist as two mutually exclusive boxes or absolute dichotomies; but that they are two closely linked aspects of the same process. Public policy to put it flatly is a continuous process, the formation of which is inseparable from its execution. In order to execute policies however, there should be mutual respect for the role of the politician and the role of the civil service in the governance of the nation.

I daresay the synergy between both politician and administrator is a symbiotic relationship which should be girded by mutual respect in working in the best interest of the people of this nation. Politicians and Senior administrative staff, such as permanent Secretaries, for instance, are leaders in their own right and my government is of the view that the old system of longevity and long service and moving up the ranks without the requisite qualifications or leadership capacity is not only outmoded, but it is counter-productive.

If my presentation appears to concentrate more on the public sector, forgive me; It is where my head and heart are at present.

Our vision is to transform the Public sector into a leaner, more efficient, more professional and competent service which reflects the ideals of good governance, transparency and integrity which are espoused by this new government. "Government in the Sunshine" did not arise as an empty, sweet sounding cliché; it has become the metaphor which symbolizes a new paradigm shift, a new modus operandi, if you may, for good governance, sound management, transparency and visionary leadership.

Allow me to share with you some of the systemic problems and the root causes of the dysfunctions of the Public service which undermine leadership capacity and management competencies: (and some of these findings emanate not from my own assessment but from the 2002 Price Water House Coopers study as well as follow up work in the office of Public Sector Transformation in my Ministry)

Firstly,

(i)	the persistence of long term over-employment, inefficiency and mis-allocation of human and financial resources in the public sector;
(ii)	Archaic, labour-intensive, manual methods of record-keeping, data storage and retrieval;
(iii)	The continuance of long service as the criteria for promotion and transfer with no regard for ability and qualification;
(iv)	The general absence of modern computerization, thus keeping the sourcing and compilation of data inefficient and far from current;
(v)	The rudimentary information management machinery that hampers the budgeting, expenditure control and decision-making systems, with the result that even the simplest governmental process is both glacially slow and needlessly costly;
(vi)	Historical failure by the Public Service Commission to enforce regulations with regard to recruitment, with the result that hiring policies and practices governed by the Civil Service Regulations 1993, No1 have been randomly applied;
(vii)	A duality in the Public service created by the existence of "established and "non-established" workers governed by differing legislation and consequently differing pay policies, with the result that pay for similar positions may differ widely and irrationally;
(viii)	The absence of a job evaluation program and a performance based pay structure, rendering it impossible to identify merit and reward performance;
(ix)	Salary increases that apply across the board as determined by union negotiations, thus rewarding non-performance and incompetence as much as- and often more than- merit and ability;
(x)	Lack of operation and effective middle management, which burdens senior Public Service officers with a host of unnecessary administrative details.

Clearly, ladies and gentlemen, what is desired by this government is ONE PUBLIC SERVICE THAT IS CUSTOMER- ORIENTED, EFFICIENT AND PRODUCTIVE. The concept of VALUE FOR MONEY has become the order of the day as tax payers are being called upon to bear some of the burden of revenue generation.

It is now seen as imperative for the growth and development of the national economy, that the Public Service be transformed into a professional body, a well trained, efficient, and productive and customer oriented service organization.

The raison d'etre of this ONE CUSTOMER ORIENTED, EFFICIENT AND PRODUCTIVE PUBLIC SERVICE should be to assist the government of the day in the professional execution of the government's social policies and also to skillfully support government in its drive to facilitate the private sector in its proper role as the DRIVING FORCE behind the growth and development of the national economy.

Our mission is multifaceted and includes but is not limited to transforming, exploring, implementing, wealth creating and rising together. Our mission includes the following objectives:

• to see a more professional, efficiently run Public service;
• to implement one service, to do away with the dual track "parallel service" and merge both streams of workers.
• to give greater prominence to training and enhancing the Human Resource capacity.
• to strengthen the role of the Public Service Commission to make it more responsible for managing Heads of Departments and delegating its employment powers (appoint, promote, transfer, discipline, and terminate) for all other public officers to the Heads of Departments.
• to promote effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. (and I can't underscore these more)
• To arrive at a collective set of virtues, values and principles, a collective vision, a collective mission and a collective integrated sustainable, dynamic national strategic development programme.

As you are all aware by now since we have been repeating this ad nauseum since our election to office, we are faced with a severe challenge to reduce the size of the public sector, to transform the public service and to reduce the enormous wage bill which is about $21 million dollars monthly and $250 million dollars annually.

The previous government created an anomaly in the dual- track system of "established" and "non-established" worker. This system allowed politicians to be actively engaged in hiring, promoting and firing workers, rather than the organization set up for that purpose- the Public Service Commission. This gave rise to a large number of political appointees many of whom were not qualified for the positions they held and their promotions in the system were not based on merit, but on political loyalties. The "non-established workers" have now long outstripped the established civil service by over 4:1 (four to one). As a result, Antigua and Barbuda now has a bloated, over-sized and unwieldy public sector. The following inconsistencies have occupied our urgent attention:

• different modes of recruitment- the Civil service via the Public Service Commission and non established by political appointment.
• different rules/regulations governing both bodies of workers- Civil Service Regulations, the Labour Code and the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
• different levels of remuneration where qualified workers in the Civil service are paid less than unqualified employees in the Non-established sector.

The aforementioned inconsistencies create problems for discipline, for employees' self worth and for the proper functioning of the Service; for the management capability of the leaders in this organization. A "culture of mediocrity" has blanketed the entire service and many workers are stuck in a mode of laissez-faire, have given less than sub-standard effort and simply do not care about the kind of service they offer to the public.

Our Mandate for re-positioning the leadership and management capacity in the public service is to do the following:

• reduce the size of the current public sector; and you that we have begun the process of right-sizing with our voluntary separation offer for which we have over 1,000 applicants.
• reduce the size of the annual wage bill.
• engage in training and re-training of public servants to improve the human resource potential at all levels. (and here we are enthused by the prospects of having Kingdome Consultants on board)
• boost morale through the implementation of performance management systems.
• review the contracts and working conditions of public sector workers.
• introduce performance appraisals for all workers.

Human resources expert, Dave Ulrich states that the key to transformation is to understand the culture of the organization, the capabilities the organization possesses, and the needs it is trying to address. And I want to just quote him here: "Keeping up with the GEs or the Microsofts of the world or even the IRSs does not mean your approach to leadership development will mirror the outcomes of theirs."

We have got to find the best way for our culture, to make the shift. How best do we convince workers in the public service that performance evaluations and regular job fit assessments are not only the norm in the private sector but they are quintessential in leveling the playing field and applying standardized methods of job analysis and performance based promotions.

When I tell public sector workers that the work ethic in the private sector should be the same or similar in terms of the principles we uphold; that a public sector worker should be able very easily to slip from the public sector into the private sector without too much displacement or without too much of a culture shock; some people claim it is impossible. But if we nurture and maintain the core values of punctuality, efficiency, honesty, loyalty, reliability, dependability and trust, the crossover does not have to be a painful sacrifice.

I have said this on numerous occasions and I wish to reiterate that in our new transformation quest, our sound management thrust in the public service, gone are the days of public servants working for years, decades even and never being evaluated throughout the life of his/her work. Gone are the days when subjective criteria or whether somebody like you will be the basis for that promotion or salary increase; gone are the days when being in management means merely sitting at a big desk and wielding a big stick.

Distinguished Ladies and Genetlemen, Public Sector Transformation is but one segment of a complex of structural changes that are designed to establish a healthy economic climate in Antigua and Barbuda. Government proposes to abandon the unsustainable policy that sought to establish the public sector as the driving force in the economy. It is clear that it is this patently erroneous strategy that has brought the economy of Antigua and Barbuda to its knees.

If the economy of Antigua and Barbuda is to rise again, the immense burden of unproductive public sector over-employment must be removed. The private sector must become the only true engine of economic growth and the main provider of jobs for the people. Government now calls on the people of Antigua and Barbuda to join in this important national effort to create ONE CUSTOMER ORIENTED, EFFICIENT AND PRODUCTIVE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have to say that I rather admire what I have been reading and learning about LMI and your Total Leader concept in which you suggest that the organization of the future is an organization where everyone is a leader. I applaud your new approach of the total leadership development process where each leader develops her/himself personally in terms of her/his productivity and then focuses on personal leadership, motivational leadership and strategic leadership.

Would that these concepts be infused across the public sector. Would that even 40% of our public servants caught that vision. Indeed the transformation process would be less daunting and more achievable.

I am going to take the liberty to say here that your launch today is two years too late. My reason for saying this is that you exemplify the kind of partnership my Ministry would have liked to engage when we began this process two years ago. But it is never too late.

I envisage that with the launch of your organization, we will have an incredible amount of assistance in making that paradigm shift, in nurturing and developing leaders throughout the public service and ultimately achieving our goal of ONE CUSTOMER ORIENTED, EFFICIENT AND PRODUCTIVE PUBLIC SERVICE.

I wish you well in all of your endeavours and I look forward to working with your organization in our quest to transform the public sector of Antigua and Barbuda and your quest to develop leaders and organizations to their full potential.

Congratulations once again and please accept the highest assurances of my Ministry.

Thank you for your kind attention.