Month: July 2023

Miracle Ex-Minister beats background check to land Trade job

~ dennisedemming ~ Leave a comment

Tuesday 18 July 2023 Letters to the Editor, View Point Leave a comment

Dear Former Minister Darryl Smith,

Congratulations on your recent appointment as a commercial officer for the Ministry of Trade. Your appointment is an indication that you passed the background check with flying colours and landed this very important job to represent our country.

Then Sport Minister Darryl Smith prepares to return a service on the table tennis board.
(via MSYA)

It is truly heart-warming to see you triumph against the odds, especially since you were fired by the Prime Minister in 2018 for ‘interfering improperly in the public service’. What better way to inspire the next generation than by demonstrating that a person could be fired, survived allegations of sexual harassment, and still achieve such a high-status job?

I wonder what would have happened if a woman was accused of sexual harassment?!  She might still be languishing in her bedroom begging for forgiveness.

But in the men’s club, you are being celebrated. Whoopie!

In this high-class “wuk”, your main responsibility will be: “to develop overseas markets and boost exports to key strategic trading partners”.  I am sure that your resume is littered with examples of how you are ideally suited for this fantastic position.

During the background check, I suspect that your current boss, Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon asked your former boss, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley if he would recommend you for the position.

Former Minister of Sport Darryl Smith and PM Dr Keith Rowley at Brian Lara Stadium opening in 2017.
(via trinidadexpress.com)

And your former boss, who had also appointed you chairman of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, answered politely to endorse your capabilities.

Maybe, your former boss reflected on the chances of him losing his own “wuk” in 2025 and said: boy, now dat ah in charge, ah go give meh friend everything.

Whatever the considerations, congratulations and may you continue to be a shining beacon of hope for all those who lack ethics or basic qualifications.

Steups!

Digitisation won’t erase public sector “stuckness”, without attitude change

~ dennisedemming ~ Leave a comment

Originally published on Wired868 Dennise Demming Sunday 9 July 2023

Congratulations to the Ministry of Legal Affairs (MLA). I received my digital marriage certificate in four days without leaving my home.

Unfortunately, we have to start the process all over because there’s an error. The name of one of the witnesses is incorrectly spelt.

Having gone through the application process I was not required to put in the data—this was done by MLA. In the handwritten (analog) version, the name is spelt correctly. How can the digital version have an error?

Time to digitize…

I understand human error but what’s the process implemented to correct, eliminate or reduce human error? What’s the system that ensures the product delivered to the customer is acceptable?

Digitization should lead to improved efficiency, better services, enhanced decision-making capabilities, and a satisfied public. What’s keeping us back? Our minds and attitudes are what’s keeping us back.

We talk about digital transformation all the time, but we continue to invest our resources in structuring structures without making sure both structure and people are properly matched.

People are the most important factor to transform our paid-for-with-hard-earned-taxes nation. The tax-paid leadership must communicate the necessary mindset transformation by demonstrating continuous behaviour change.

How do we reform the public sector?

The only way public sector employees will “buy in” to the significant change that’s needed is if they see their leaders at all levels changing their behaviours. Remember the cliché: “people do what you do, not what you say!”

The leadership must invest in the upskilling of the entire public service to help us all adapt to new technologies and ways of working.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley (left) at the BPTT Technology opening in 2019.
(via OPM)

Think of the gains of delivering a certificate quickly, with all the elements involved, which were totally and completely undone because an error was allowed to occur—the supervision process missed the error entirely.

Converting a broken analog system to a digital one is still maintaining a broken system. The world has transformed successfully from analog to digital in the public sector. What’s our problem?

We are still in the mode of “…dah not mih job…” and “…dat good enough…”

Digitization, if done correctly, is a fantastic opportunity to confirm data from the traditional records, and to update or correct them as needed.

It would be lovely to have a reset button to hit to foster a culture of learning and innovation. There isn’t one. There has to be careful, well-advised consideration, and surgical education implemented to repair the problem.

A public sector employee (right) conducts a transaction in the movie Zootopia.

In addition, our leaders must demonstrate the capacity to foster that culture of learning and innovation. It’s time for a new leadership that walks the talk of a changed mindset. We have so much potential but we are stuck. This MLA incident is just one example of our “stuckness” and the decades of failure of our leadership.

It’s easy to say: “Time to move on!” But moving on without properly repairing will ensure that the stuckness keeps us stuck.