Public service took major hit after Irma and Maria

The BVI’s public service was severely impacted after the passage of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, leaving the government with just half of its workforce intact in the wake of the two dreadful category-five storms.

This is according to Permanent Secretary in the Deputy Governor’s Office, Sharleen Dabreo-Lettsome, who indicated that a number of measures had to be taken to shore up the government’s labour force in the aftermath.

“Following Irma, we had a drastic decline in the number of public officers. I think we went from over 4,000 to just barely over 2,000. I think we were at 2,400-and something. That was the number HR provided to us. So, the public service on a whole had a major hit,” Dabreo-Lettsome said.

In addition to this, Dabreo-Lettsome said a number for public officers had gotten to the 25-year-mark and are thinking about retiring, and this too has had some impact on the government’s workforce.

She further shared that, with the public service having to deal with the Implementation of Recommendations following on from the Commission of Inquiry (COI), there has been an additional toll on the capacity of the workforce, both in a negative and a positive way.

Much of the COI’s recommendations require new laws to be implemented and this process can often become lengthy and tedious, and involves consultation, drafting of legislation and debate, among other things, Dabreo-Lettsome explained.

One resulting positive factor was the boosting of capacity within the Attorney General’s Chambers, where the legislation and amendments have to be routed, she said.

“We also had to increase the capacity at the Auditor General’s level, Ministry of Finance — many other areas within government. So, in order to do that, obviously we had to make some sacrifices in other places because those departments became priority,” Dabreo-Lettsome shared.

The Permanent Secretary said that even with this positive impact that has allowed some departments to gain new resources, there are now other areas which need to be addressed, particularly with the government having to continue its work past the implementation phase of the COI recommendations.

The government’s newly launched Virgin Islands Public Service Learning Institute, Dabreo-Lettsome explained, is expected to address this challenge with the government now having an institution dedicated to providing training and orientation for the workforce.