PRIME Minister Andrew Holness indicated Thursday that there will be displacements when Government goes ahead with the public sector transformation programme which should improve efficiency and the ease of doing business.

“The obvious answer is that there will be some jobs that by, virtue of being more efficient and agile, would not need to exist, but this is not a process that is going to happen tomorrow,” Holness told a joint press conference between the Administration and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at Jamaica House.

The reform of the public sector has been one of the outstanding items that the IMF has been pushing for years but on which not much action has been taken.

“We have also had to contemplate a strategy of outplacing and early retirement. So there are a slew of strategies, being contemplated to ensure that we are not just dislocating and throwing people out,” he continued, while noting that other strategies, such as divestment and privatisation, of some Government entities are also being considered to ensure a smooth transformation process.

The prime minister pointed out that, while the Government has had a long time to deliberate on the issue of public sector transformation, for too long the country has viewed the transformation programme as a “zero-sum game”.

“Meaning that if the sector is transformed, then some persons are going to lose. This is not the framework of this agreement. The framework is built fairly and firmly on equity, the expansion of employment, and the sequencing and timing of action,” he said.

He noted that the burning question among stakeholders is whether the displaced employees could have their services utilised in other areas of the public sector, or will be absorbed in the private sector.

“Should we be expanding employment in the public or private sector? Everything that I have said about the transformation is about getting the public sector in a position to grow the private sector. That is something that every single Jamaican must understand. That is really the transformation. That our jobs exist in the public sector to support the private sector.

“It means, therefore, that we have to be far more agile, effective and efficient in how we police the regulatory environment in which the private sector operates. It means that we have to be far more business-like in how we do the permitting and issuing of licences, for example. It means that we will be looking at every single business process of the Government and re-engineering them while supporting the growth of the private sector meaning the growth of employment in the private sector,” Holness stated.

Chair of the Public Sector Monitoring Committee Helene Davis Whyte, while siding with the prime minister in creating efficiencies within the public sector, noted that emphasis must also be placed on economic growth within the country for greater efficiency in the sector.

“When you have Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declining or remaining stagnant then the focus should be on the question of economic growth. Nine per cent of GDP could mean an increase in the overall number of jobs in the public sector, and it would also mean an increase in pay,” Davis Whyte said.

“We place emphasis on two things — economic growth and delivery of efficient service. That is what, in our minds, should be guiding the whole question of public sector transformation.”

She added that the Government should not start with an approach of having a specific number of people employed within the sector, but should instead look to see if what exists in the public sector can deliver quality service to the citizens of the country.

“The extent to which human resource can be increased or decreased depends on a number of factors, and one major factor has to do with the question of technology and provision of equipment. In cases where rather than having 10 bodies doing a particular job, if it is two bodies aided by a machine, then we can understand, because it is really about delivering effective and efficient service,” said Davis Whyte.

Prime Minister Holness said Government was, however, taking “a far more enlightened approach” and believes that it has a very good partner in the IMF, which understands the political dynamics surrounding the system.

“… This Government will be very respectful and observe the legal and moral rights of the people, but it should be well known that it is imperative to transform the public sector,” said Holness.