Labour and Social Affairs Minister Cornelius de Weever obviously has had enough. After stating recently that he believed an investigation was required into what had been holding up the processing by his own department of dismissal requests for former Pelican Resort workers, he now has told department staff to either "shape up or ship out" (see related article).
Although he worked for the Health Department before, the minister is not a career politician and perhaps, because of that, unaccustomed to the way certain things work – or rather don't work – within the government bureaucracy. Having to deal with the latter is enough to frustrate anyone, but it's especially bothersome where it concerns much-needed assistance to the weakest in society.
Of course, the idea is not for political administrators to become involved in individual cases, so as to avoid favouritism or even the appearance thereof. The secretary-general of the ministry in question is the one to sign off on permits and many other decisions, based on existing guidelines, rules and regulations, for that very same reason.
Nevertheless, De Weever is correct when he reasons that he remains politically responsible and ultimately will be held accountable by Parliament. In that sense, he has every right to set policy for and steer the entities in his portfolio to perform at an adequate level.
His conclusion is obviously that this is currently not the case, hence the call for improvement. After all, the minister is usually the most recognisable figure where many of the complaints end up.
De Weever's belief that the people of St. Maarten deserve better seems sincere enough, raising the issue why others who were in charge of this matter in the past didn't do more about it. A customer service agent/complaint officer in any case seems like a good first step.
In general, public sector employees need to understand once and for all that they do not really work for government or a particular minister, but on behalf of the community as a whole. The title "civil servant" says it all: they are there to serve.
