Refreshing the public sector in order to make it meaningful and efficient must be the priority of the new Administration that will be elected on February 25, Jamaican-born, United States-based academic, Professor Basil ‘Bagga’ Wilson has said.

The Provost Emeritus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and executive director of King Research Institute at Munroe College in New York, said that in order to arrive at efficiency, cutting the public service in terms of widescale redundancies might not even have to occur, as there are other ways of achieving a better-functioning government agency.

“Efficiency is an essential part of economic development. I don’t think there is anything that stifles economic development more than inefficiency. That has a lot to do with resource allocation, as you have to make sure that your resources are allocated and functioning efficiently. And if there is slack in the public sector you need to make that more efficient so that other resources can be allocated to other areas of the economy which are sorely needed,” Wilson told the Jamaica Observer in an interview when he visited the island recently.

Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips told Parliament last Tuesday that the Government had no plans to have widescale redundancies in the public sector during the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year which begins April 1.

But there have been ongoing calls for the civil service to be trimmed in order to lessen the Government’s wage bill and eliminate jobs in which employees underperform.

Phillips conceded that there was a need to restructure the public sector to achieve greater efficiency.

“We obviously have to reorganise our public sector to make it more efficient to deal with levels of pay that attract the best and the brightest in the country at the relevant levels. All of that needs to be done, but as we proceed to that, we are not intending to proceed to that point in a fashion that is either callous, disregarding the sacrifices that have been made by those same workers that have brought us this far, that is intended, to in any, way impose any hardship,” Phillips told the House of Representatives while revealing that 2,564 positions had been slashed, mainly through attrition, and more would likely follow when they become vacant.

Wilson said that in light of the borrowing agreement which Jamaica has established with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a focus will be on the public sector to see how its performance will impact targets laid down by the United States-headquartered, multilateral agency.

“The IMF programme is at a delicate point. The IMF wants to have the public sector wage bill to be at nine per cent of GDP, now it’s at 11 per cent. Any humane government doesn’t want to layoff people on any kind of mass scale, especially in a democratic society,” argued Wilson.

“Some more of that can be achieved through attrition, through buying out people’s contracts and through expanding the economy. I have heard conflicting stories about where the IMF appears to be in terms of that – nine per cent vs 11 per cent. All the indicators show that Jamaica has become a much more receptive country to invest … it’s much easier to do business in Jamaica now than it was in yesteryear,” Wilson said.

“One of the things we need to be careful of in terms of the public sector is that a case could be made, for example, for additional police officers to aid in the fight against crime, and to reduce crime you need an efficient police force, not just numbers, but we could do with more police officers who could be visible and act as a deterrent,” he suggested.

“There are certain cities that have opted for scientific policing, using technology, using com stats to really begin to find solutions to crime… finding hot spots, and that’s important. So even though we might have to reduce the public sector, we want to make certain that the reduction in the public sector does not affect the war against crime.

“You don’t want to use the job cuts in the public sector to worsen the unemployment situation, but one of the things that we are hoping is that the private sector will expand, so that some of these people who will suffer from attrition could be absorbed in the private sector, because some of these people are quite skilled and can contribute to the productivity aspects of the economy. I would hope that if it is done, it is done in such a way that it is not disruptive, it is not damaging to family, and to communities,” Wilson said.

Regarding the February 25 General Election, Wilson said that the maturity of political parties involved had made things better for Jamaica in the eyes of the world.

“The thing that fascinates me about the Jamaican election — as someone who studies political violence from the time it began in 1967 — things got out of control in 1972, 1976 and 1980. But I think both political parties must be commended for having taken the violence out of politics, and setting up an independent electoral commission.

“I remember a time when campaigning would begin, there would be violence, burning down of houses … and that kind of thing. That is now behind us. We have developed a democratic political culture and we can now conduct elections without any kind of large-scale or middle scale violence, and it’s going to be an exciting time for the Jamaican people to determine who should represent them for the next five years. There is the performance of the PNP, and they have the JLP. Both are mass parties, some will start with more predictable seats, which we call safe seats,” Wilson said.

“The thing with Jamaican elections is, whoever wins the election depends on swing seats. There may be about 15 swing seats, and that will determine who wins the election. Whichever party wins should ensure the importance of using government to develop the country and to the benefit of the mass of the population.”

Growing the economy, he said, must be a priority for the new Administration, as the island needs to spend more on health care, education, and on the safety net.