'Repurpose some of our public officers'- Claude O. Skelton-Cline
Agreeing that more money needs to be allocated in the budget for those departments, Skelton-Cline was also of the view that human resources could be better managed.
Speaking on Honestly Speaking on ZBVI 780 AM on September 2, 2025, the host of the radio programme said Heads of Department often tell the Standing Finance Committee that they need more personnel in their departments; however, there are some public officers in other departments who could be sent to those in need of personnel.
‘Move them’
“Now I know that there are officers who ain’t doing their jobs. I understand all that. I understand that there are some departments, when you walk into some departments, some of them are, you know, fast asleep. Some of them are on the online news, some of them are slouching over the desk, with nothing to do, and we know this.”
“Why don't we? Why can't we repurpose some of our public officers? Move them to Immigration, move them to Customs, move them to the Passport Office, move them to other areas where the country’s growth is demanding more of certain departments than others. Why not repurpose those persons?”
The commentator said there just cannot continue to be talk and no action.
“I want to say to the people of this country. I don’t care how much any politician tells you they’re gonna do something. If it ain’t in the budget, it ain’t getting done, and if it’s in the budget and the Minister of Finance does not make the funds available for that line item, it can’t get done. We need to stop playing games with each other.”
Some departments moving @ ‘snail’s pace’
Skelton-Cline said he knows for sure there are departments in dire need since their mandates are so broad.
“They’re covering so many different subjects, and we wonder why Labour, Passport Office, Labour, Immigration, we wonder why this thing is going at a snail’s pace. Has anybody looked at the systems and structure in which we are asking them to work? We have some persons in certain departments who are working overtime, going home 7:00 PM. We have some of them who are working on weekends just to keep up. They’re not getting paid for that.”
Skelton-Cline said this debilitating situation in the public service was created across governments.
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15 Responses to “'Repurpose some of our public officers'- Claude O. Skelton-Cline”
also until we stop this auntie cousin who you fa business this country will not move forward.
Leaders wake up
Someone want to educate him on the existing government rotation scheme?
Don’t just move people that work hard to ‘hide’ the problem.
Think we be shocked.
Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the phrase "creative destruction" in his 1942 book, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. The term describes the process of innovation and technological change where new products, processes, and business models emerge and displace outdated ones, ultimately driving economic growth and progress. Schumpeter saw this as the "essential fact about capitalism," where competition and innovation constantly revolutionize the economic structure from within . AI overview.
Moreover, the VI needs to conduct a comprehensive’ creative destruction’ process of its public sector workforce to determine the number of Full-Time-Equivalent ( FTEs), manpower, etc, needed by each department, division, section,, etc., to perform the allocated workload effectively, efficiently, and productively. Activities with excess FTEs can be trained and reassigned to activities with less than needed FTEs. In some cases new FTE positions may need to be created.. On the other hand, in other cases where work is only needed occasionally, the work can be outsourced.