Minister of Public Service Management Jennifer Westford of Guyana

Kaieteur News: “It is my belief that somewhere deep down within, the Honourable Leader of the Opposition knows that Buxton is a safe haven for bandits…Come on Honourable Leader of the Opposition, exhale and release from deep down within, the words, Buxton is a safe haven for bandits.

Government is not in a position to offer public servants the year-end payout they have been used to receiving, although it understands how important that money is to families, Public Service Minister, Dr Jennifer Westford said yesterday.

Addressing members of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) at its General Council meeting, which commenced on Wednesday and wrapped up yesterday, Westford said public servants need to spend wisely at this time, and they can look to next year when government intends to address their concerns holistically.

Relating a recent incident, Westford said she received an email from a parent who informed her that her daughter had threatened to commit suicide.

Westford said she undertook an investigation into the incident and found out that the child's father had sent some money through her mother to her but the mother did not deliver it to the child.

These two measures were quietly announced last week even though Public Service Minister Dr Jennifer Westford had said as recently as December 19 that there would be no further payout for public servants before the end of the year.

But even after this letter, Dr Westford had told a GPSU forum on December 18 that Government was not in a position to offer public servants the year-end payout they have been used to receiving, although it understood how important that money is to families.

Addressing members of the GPSU at its General Council meeting, Westford said public servants needed to spend wisely at this time, and they can look to next year when government intends to address their concerns holistically.

Westford said the union and government had been negotiating for sometime now, as they had in the past hoping to find a solution, but the discussions will have to continue in the new year.

MINISTER of Public Service Management, Ms Jennifer Westford was yesterday morning forced to leave without declaring open a five-day seminar on Supervisory Management because participants turned up late.

Minister Westford said she had turned up at the Public Service Management, Office of the President, at D'Urban Street and Vlissengen Road in Georgetown to declare open the workshop scheduled to start at 08:30 hrs but when she arrived only three of the 21 participants had turned up.

Westford said much training will be done within the Public Service since she sees training as a process through which the ministry will improve and work towards excellence.

Westford said as she urged the participants to pay keen attention to what will be taught at the seminar.

Westford said that no one is born with race hate.

Westford said that she would not “bury her head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich” and deny that race-oriented problems in the Public Service do not exist.

Minister Westford said Government has established open and ongoing community channels for people at all levels, at a level unprecedented in the history of representative Government in Guyana.

Jennifer Westford is among persons deemed non-existent in what it maintains is a campaign by the main opposition Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) to block thousands of its supporters from voting at the general and regional elections due this year.

Jennifer Westford was today part of such an effort to assess the situation in the Mahaica Creek and to ensure that relief efforts are ongoing.