FOR DECADES, it has been well known that the main cause of the problems within the public service is poor management. Every year, we are subjected to ever growing examples of poor management within the judiciary, Transport Board, health, education, road maintenance and so on. On and on for decades, and yet the solution is obvious and simple.
There are international standards for just about every activity, from mixing concrete to managing public services. The international standard for managing services is the ISO 9001. When some East Asian nations became independent near the time of our Independence, they recognised their management deficiencies and founded their economies on quality management.
Fortuitously, we did not have that problem, having inherited one of the best managed public services on the planet. However, rather than improving that legacy, we squandered it by following the lead of despots in some South American, African and Middle Eastern nations. We politicised our Civil Service, thus guaranteeing its inefficiency and financial unsustainability. From being perhaps the most prepared, and thus the most likely to succeed as an independent nation, we are on the path the being the one most likely to fail.
I have actively encouraged the Government to adopt the international quality management system for the past 15 years, and have come to the realisation that lobbying for change is perhaps the most inefficient method for those not politically connected. Therefore, we have formed Solutions Barbados, published workable solutions to the main problems hindering Barbados’ development (on SolutionsBarbados.com), and plan to implement them following the next general election. Hold on Barbados, help is on the way.
– GRENVILLE PHILLIPS II
