Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness and the wider Jamaica.

As a younger man in the public service, I believe that for Jamaica to succeed the country must make the public sector ‘sexy’ again.

What do I mean by this? The country’s productivity crisis is directly tied to the red tape within the public sector and the culture beneath it that breeds complacency and self-preservation among public servants who are paid by tax dollars to do, in effect, very little or frustrate the very citizens and Government they are meant to serve. If this is not addressed now, it will remain a problem for every Government that follows.

We need accountability in the public sector. We need a focus on outcomes rather than procedure for its own sake. Too often, the public service will watch businesses or citizens suffer because process dictates rather than changing outdated systems and mechanisms to be more efficient and outcome-focused. Citizens routinely describe poor service at public institutions, and as a country, we should be ashamed of that.

We also need a genuine system of meritocracy, one in which talented public servants are recognised and advanced based on ability rather than tenure or gender. Too many appointees are ill-equipped to meet the modern demands of Government or actively frustrate Government’s work when their politics do not align with the party in power. It is deeply unfortunate that many talented public servants across government are pushed out precisely because they are competent — and some simply choose to leave.

Unions have a critical role to play in this transformation, and it is time they stepped into it more boldly. Too often, public sector unions have defended tenure and process over performance and outcomes, effectively protecting the very culture that frustrates the citizens their members are meant to serve.

If unions genuinely represent the interest of hard-working, capable public servants, they should be leading the push for change and transformation, not resisting it. A union that champions accountability and rewards talent strengthens its own credibility and protects its best members from being undermined by underperformance elsewhere in the system. It is in the interest of unions themselves to advocate for a public service that Jamaicans respect and trust.

This matters because Jamaica cannot achieve the growth it aspires to while its public institutions remain a drag rather than a driver of national progress. Investors watch how efficiently government moves. Citizens judge the State by how quickly and fairly it serves them. A public sector that is slow, unaccountable, and resistant to talent does not merely inconvenience; it actively undermines the country’s competitiveness and erodes public trust in governance itself. If we are serious about Vision 2030 and Jamaica’s place in a competitive global economy, this cannot remain a footnote, and it must be central to the national conversation.

The public service needs revamping, and part of that means making it attractive to men and to young people. In many spaces, gender and age parity have disappeared entirely, and the resulting lack of diversity limits our capacity for innovation.

Millennial Voice

helpjamaica876@gmail.com