Concern growing about power and calibre of senior civil servants
ONE of the main issues that came up in the pre-election hustings and debate was to do with the situation of the island being run not by politicians but by the civil servants. There is great concern, please note Chief Executive Paul Whitfield, about the calibre of those in great positions within the civil service. Questions are being asked about which 'sir' is responsible for employing the highly paid candidates for these positions.
Let's look at the case of Health. A continued spasm of chiefs for all the positions of this department, a disastrous sequence of resignations and shuffles and the latest to leave, the Health chief herself, Carol Tozer.
Then look at other sections of the States, for example the Water Board, who have announced their new operations plans, showing the top five members of their leadership team. Notice how few of these members are from Guernsey and all have been recruited from outside of the island. Look at Planning – all UK-trained planners.
Look at Guernsey Harbours – more people employed at the higher levels than we have ever had, i.e. more assistants now than Paul Daniels had in the whole of his career.
The list of examples goes on.
The Guernsey government is easy pickings to work for and highly paid.
As one candidate at the hustings pointed out after doing his homework, 'Civil Service senior management numbers increased 93% between 2009-2014'.
Can Paul Whitfield answer this one – Are they, these powerful civil servants, not answerable to anyone?
We saw in the news recently that those responsible for the £8m. loss in the Pfos case, i.e. the law officers and others, are not having action taken against them – it will be dealt with behind closed doors.
We have not got a democracy here. What is going on seems to be above the law of the land and very worrying for the future.
We need politicians who are going to dig into this fiasco; people who are not afraid to challenge and who will support the people of this island and take on the might of these civil servants who think they have God's gift of power to control our environment.
These are very worrying times and it is time for politicians to act accordingly. Please note, there are still some great and hard-working, honest civil servants out there. Believe me they are also frustrated by what is going on but sworn to secrecy and so can't inform.
Name and address withheld.
Editor's footnote: States chief executive Paul Whitfield declined to comment.
