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PM Browne Warns Public Servants: ‘Do Your Job or Suffer the Consequences’
Prime Minister Gaston Browne issued a stark warning to underperforming public servants during a parliamentary session on Thursday, declaring an end to what he described as a decade-long tolerance of incompetence within the public sector.
Browne said he has made it a point at every Cabinet meeting to ask ministers about outstanding staffing issues within their ministries and has committed to resolving them. However, he cited widespread “lethargy” among lower-level staff as a persistent obstacle to effective governance.
“From now on, heads are going to roll. We have had 10 years protecting incompetence in this country—it’s finished,” the Prime Minister said.
Browne, who grew up in poverty, acknowledged that his reluctance to dismiss staff in the past stemmed from his personal experience.
“That was my overwhelming philosophy—why I went the extra mile to protect them,” he said. “But when you’re frustrating government’s work… that kind of benevolence done finish.”
He warned that public servants who fail to perform could be removed or even lose their jobs entirely, adding that the government would not accept sabotage of its agenda.
“If you don’t perform, it’s either we move you—and if you continue consistently not performing, you may lose your work,” Browne said. “It’s not the government discriminating against you; it is you literally undermining yourself.”
He also addressed the perception of political victimisation that often arises when civil servants are dismissed. Referencing a past case involving an individual known as “Trump” who was removed under a previous administration for non-performance, Browne said the decision was wrongly interpreted as political. “We bought into the rhetoric that it was political victimization,” he admitted. “With hindsight, I will accept there are issues.”
Despite his firm stance, Browne insisted his remarks should not be seen as threats. “This should not be construed as me threatening anyone,” he said. “We don’t want to go down that road. But if you force us to do so, we will.”
The Prime Minister concluded by urging all public servants to take responsibility and fulfil their duties, warning that continued underperformance would no longer be tolerated.
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“Heads are going to roll”…like the public works director that got transferred to work on a critical piece of our tourism infrastructure…
It is not just the “UPP operatives” that are undermining. It’s the square RED pegs you have in round holes that couldn’t do the job even if they wanted to.
There should not have been ANY patience for incompetence AT ALL! That sort of patience enables slackness, lack of accountability, laziness and even entitled behaviour! This looks to me like all lip-service! Even if heads do roll, as soon as the next election starts looming closer, another set of square pegs will be placed in round holes (old or created) within the same public service to secure votes. Aryu sick muh tumuck!
Have no problem with any administration taking action against workers who won’t do their Jobs efficiently once it’s not to spite people who do not support whatever administration, we know the minds of men can be evil
That is it my pm .time to put them in place
Mr. PM your head is already rolling.
Well well well. I hope it’s not just talk. Because plenty will have to go home. And since we know Labour Party stand on employment and not retrenchment, I’ll wait and see. Many people are at statutory corporation just because the minister send them to have a paycheck. And that is what it’s all about. Not working for the paycheck. And since these statutory bodies do not get their revenues from the Treasury they get saddled with heavy payroll expenses. The fylosophy of Labour Party is to give people work rather then see them un-employed. And these people when fired will treatened their representative to vote against them in the next election. And that is bad news for the politicians. Therefore the more people you help to get a job, the better your changes of being elected.
WHAT THE HELL…! …PATIENCE WITH INCOMPETENCE…? BETTER WORD- TOLERANCE
***
WELL:
(a) ‘…PATIENCE: or
(b) …TOLERANCE:’ WHATEVER SHALL BE DONE- SHALL BE DONE.’
***
THUS, WHETHER OR NOT:
(i) ‘…BECOMING ‘…IMPATIENT: or
(ii) …INTOLERANT:’
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PRIME MINISTER BROWNE IS ON A ROLL TO ‘…BUCK THEM UP.’
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LEFT – RIGHT – CENTER, THE ‘PM’ SEEMS HELL-BENT IN ‘…BUCKING ALL OF THEM UP.’
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LIKENED TO DRIVING: ‘…MOTORISTS MUST ‘…BUCKLE UP.’
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WHETHER OR NOT ‘…BUCK’ IS THE RIGHT USAGE, BUT ‘PM ‘…BUCKING’ ALL OF THEM UP.’
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SO, DO NOT PLAY ‘…STUPID AND STUCK-UP.’
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THOSE IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE NOW KNOW THAT EVERYBODY MUST ‘…BUCK-UP.
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MY FRIEND ‘..JUMBIE PICKNEE, TOO.’
***
THE RIGHT WORD IS ‘…BUCK,’ NOT EVEN ‘…LUCK.’
***
WALK GOOD. TALK GOOD.
***
What i heard is admittance to running a candy shop for 10 years
I will believe it when I see it happen!👀
Heads must roll. We need public sector reform. Let’s start with performance assessments throughout the public sector. When we do that and document then no one can claim victimization.
A LEADER THAT IS INCOMPETENT HELPS TO CREATE THIS ENVIRONMENT….THE ONLY GOOD LEADER IS GOD ONLY IF WE CAN UNDERSTAND THAT….“And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. ”
1 Samuel 8:7 KJV
https://www.unfeignedbible.app/1.Samuel.8.7…….
IF WE ONLY UNDERSTAND HOW WE HURT GOD when we look to these leaders for direction and not GOD
Hello hello. Pay the people. What u owe them. How the f u. Get u money. Every month. And u ball head. Ass love. Say. U this. And u. Member u. Ball head ass. A. Antigua. Them a work for. And if u think u. Can bring any other people. Here here for there jobs a stone. Well stone. Them
@Lucky Dubie May 15, 2025 At 5:49 pm
You know the government system doesn’t have a human resources department. All you have is the Public Service Commission. The World Bank wanted to implement this under the UPP. Work was far progressed. Had the UPP won the 2014 election this was one of the programs of the PSSTP. The Public Sector and Social Transformation Project. Antigua was loaned US$10Million for the implementation. It was headed by a St. Lucian Lady called Gale Archibald. But the playboy called Lovell was only interested in her beauty. He is a real playboy. Always thinking with his dig. I think he only sees women as sex objects. Anyway they lost the election and the ABLP wont have nothing of that. Labour philosophy as I call it. Samantha Marshall as minister of Social Transformation showed her the door. I am sure that any future UPP administration will pickup where they left and implement this program.
I also think the Union won’t go for it. They would lose many members and thereby revenue. Can you immagine them losing 40% of revenue and don’t fight that. But I hope the ABLP is bold enough one day to start this program. The PM always taking about getting value for money. Well start with the Public Sector. The service they provide is not worth the money we pay for it. Monthly payroll I believe stands at $40Million. And not to mention they are all getting non-contributory pension. And they pay 1% less towards their Social Security Pension. Making them the only citizens with two pensions when they are at pension age. No wonder no one wants to leave the Private Sector. You cannot get fired, having job security for life, and you’ll have two pensions. And you do not need to perform on the job. Just show up. If that much.
School children say that because Gaston head a roll with the Alfa Nero saga, he want other people head fu roll too. Lol. What a thing.
@Lest we forget. You were onto some good points but spoiled it with the Lovell “dig”. Guess you don’t know any of this current and incompetent pack that think with their “dig” , according to you.
But to continue on that reform of the public sector. Yes the govt has a human resource dept, Establishment Division, but only for established civil servants. That though is totally outdated! They are still using rules and regulations from colonial days. But, guess who is over this for the longest time. Obviously ABLP and Sir Cutie. Not a single change has been made; no technological advances. All of the other OECS and Caribbean countries have transformed but not us. And then you blame the civil servants when they have only “cavemen” tools to work with? Let me be more specific. When a person joins the established civil service, paper fies are prepared and kept on them at the department level, the ministry level and the establishment dept. How can proper records be maintained on even one person?
Now, on to the non-established sector. Yes there is more than one civil service. It is important to note that St Lucia has three times our population but only one quarter our total civil servants. According to Max Hurst it is ABLPs policy to ensure at least one person per household be on the govt payroll; regardless of course of whether there is work for them to do or competence to work So you can see that having 12000 workers on the payroll is no mistake and not benevolence. It is all political calculus to win elections and to have control by divide and rule tactics and right out threats.
So Gaston is blowing hot air as usual since “Satan cannot correct sin” and the present status quo is needed so self enrichment can continue.
Inevitably, comrades or foe, heads must roll as the wagon, too; rolls on.
The buck stops with the minister not the career civil servants. When was the last time an ALP minister was sacked?
@Zackie May 16, 2025 At 8:21 am
Like always your comment has to make it a political blame game. With your hatred for our Honorable Prime Minister Gaston Alphonso Browne you will always put the blame on him. But don’t forget the UPP had ten years in which they could have change things. And I did mention that they gave it all to the IMF and Worldbank to do. Had Lovell been more seriously involved in this project other then trying to make his charmain avances to this beautifull and intelligent St. Lucien lady we may have seen the besst thing hapening to Antigua and Barbuda. There was no need to wait for the election. They gambled hoping they would have won. The UPP never told the Antigua and Barbuda electorate that they wouild introduce Personal Income Tax. But they did. They never told the electorate that they would rightsize the public sector, but they were doing just that. The ABLP has alway publicly stated not to do any of these. So I do not expect them to break their word. But that doesn’t make it right in my opinion. When it comes to the PIT, I agree with their phylosophy. It is based on economies of scale. When it comes to rightsizing the public sector I can understand their urguments, but as a businessman I don’t agree. You see the difference between the UPP and the ABLP is that the ABLP is guided by certain phylosophic stands. While the UPP has nothing. All they do is to smeer their opponent, and call them all sort of name and accuse them of all manner of bad things. As you yourself do. Calling Gaston Satan. But that is how you guys are. And then to say Cutie has not done anything to improve the system. First of all their is much more computerize in our system of Government than was prior to 2014. And that thanks to the leadership of Melford Nicholas. But I also would give thanks to the UPP for allowing the IMF brought in by Dr. Cort and assisted by the then Budget Director David Matthias to introduce the FreeBalance Software. https://freebalance.com/en/
Implementation of this is complete suit is still a work in progress. I’ve been personally involved with some of it’s implementation. And that is when you see that some public servants just need to go home, cause they were not willing to go with the change. They frustrated the system to the point were the IMF almost throw their hand up in the air and abandoned the project. People who are accustomed to do things one way for tens of year are not easy to change their ways.
I believe sooner or later ABLP will have to bite the bullet. If it caused them the election so be it, but they have to do what needs to be done. Make the system mean and lean for the better future of our country. And they need to put laws in place that would prevent any future government for stacking up the public sector with dead meat again. Just to secure votes. And this job security for life has to go. if you do not perform it should be reasons enough for you to be fired. I will not answer you on the roll of the Establishment Division. When did they ever hold an employee evaluation. or even set goals for each department. They were the worst people to convince to get on the FreeeBalance system. They were stubborn in doing things the archade way. Even using Excel was a big No No to them. They use calculators to calculate a persons pension. Anyway you with your political hate speech and we will see what will happen next election. But from how it looks now, LABOUR WILL WIN AGAIN.
Is it incompetence to obey and enforce the law? Are you looking to favor and promote individuals who jump when the minister say jump? I have seen department head been victimized by the political directorate for following the law… everything can’t be about political expediency. I find it funny that as soon as one get elected to public office they become an expert at everything…..they become an expert at plant quarantine…. expert in health matters… expert in customs…expert in road engineer…. politicians are expert in every field on earth and in heaven.
“Mr Minister, let me do my work” …so speak Mr Pompey. Now that is real competence
Molwyn was sacked by Lester for thieving the rolls-royce. So yes.
WHAT THE HELL…! …MY FRIEND, DION PELLE
***
WELL, YOU HAVE JUST BROUGHT BACK FOND MEMORIES OF WHEN IN THE ‘…PUBLIC DOMAIN,’ A MINISTER ATTEMPTED TO ‘…DICTATE TO RAWLSTON POMPEY.’
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RECALLED ‘…BLUNTLY AND FORCEFULLY’ SAYING IN FRONT OF A MULTITUDE: ‘…MR. MINISTER, LET ME DO MY WORK.’
***
WHETHER OR NOT EMBARRASSED, VERY QUIETLY, HE WALKED AWAY.
***
HE WAS NOT MY SUPERIOR: DECEASED NO-NONSENSE COMMISSIONER OF pOLICE, TRUEHART O.M. SMITH QPM,’ WAS THEN MY SUPERIOR.
***
HE HAD DEPLOYED ME ON DUTY. THUS ‘ACCOUNTABLE’ ONLY TO HIM.
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HAD FULL BACKING FOR THE STANCE TAKEN.’
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WALK GOOD, MY FRIEND.
***
WHAT THE HELL…!
***
I hereby remove PM Browne, AG Benjamin and ABLP on the same basis as the PM statements herein. It is time we get leaders who will never say to citizens, “we can’t help you”, “Give me money to help you”, “It is not me, it was him or her to blame”.
For the following reasons, I hereby remove PM Browne, and all ABLP with the power of God and those neglected citizens (99% of the population).
People like cutie chet.
A matter a fact all a them fraid the dog.
Tomuch to gain to loose in d ay.
Y’all heard the man….shape up or ship up!!!! Truth be told, we are all tired of incompetent people with bad attitudes, excelling in mediocrity while on the public dime. If we are to be a better nation excellence ( or damn near close to it) must be the standard. Nepotism, party affiliated created positions and hirings and friendship appointments must come to an end. Hire people who are highly qualified for a position not some dunce who’s appointed out of favor.
This dude! Wow! Does he ever take responsibility for anything? It’s always someone else’s fault. He changed laws to make piracy in the twentieth century legal and now Julia come for she boat,it’s UPP fault; the teachers can’t get what’s justly owed to them, PAY; it’s the technicians fault, when he controls the public purse. All of his ministers are incompetent, arrogant misfits,none more so that the minister of public works,his spouse, yet Crump takes the fall for HIS and HER incompetence. 10 years have passed and we the public have NEVER seen audited reports of every governmental department; he wraps up a budget presentation prematurely, to hide his blatant incompetence and cover for his inept cabinet. Oh Antigua, you have sunk so low to become a global embarrassment.
A them need fu shake or get to hell out.
Money sweet.
They are gaston toy people
As you should Mr. PM. These people who has a lack of interest in jobs, get rid of them. People in private jobs are working hard and still getting fired because management refuse to see their hard work. So you can dismiss those who truly ain’t working
Why don’t you shake up your administration? They are not performing well, so the ones below them cannot either. Shake up your ministers.
@Dion Pelle May 16, 2025 At 11:11 am
Let me ask you something. Who is the one that carries the final responsibility at your job? If it is the politician that surely their orders will have to be carried out. If you feel strongly about not following the directive than you have the right to resign and take the politician to court by forcing you to do either unprofessional or unlawful instructions. And I’ll bet you a judge would rule in your favor. But if it is just that you just do not want to do it the way you have been told to do it, then you are disobeying a directive and being insubordinate. And therefore should be fired. I mean who run things is the question then.
The PM must be congratulated for his bold stance with his bold stance with calling for heads of public services employees.
When will the PM lead by example and voluntarily offer his head and that of his ‘Self Enrichment ‘ cabinet ministers?
How come Gaston not rolling heads at APUA? Where the electricity manager preside over the destruction of all APUA power station to ostensibly cause a private one family to be contracted to supply power. Oops! He got to tip toe around that family who are made billionaires as the former prime minister Hon. Baldwin Spencer predicted that would be pernicious to the nation and national security. then also Aldine crump don’t even know that you need propane torch heater mechanism to vulcanize potholes in the road rather than throw on the asphalt in a hole filled with water.
Less We Forget…Do you remember the Medical Benefit Inquiry? The accountant was following the Minister’s directive, ” when the minister say pay you pay”….
Like you name though…Less We Forget. Joke you joking
You cowed them into submission. They were not allowed to have a thought that smelled different from yours, or else…
It was made clear to them that they have to do what you want and they have to please you, or else.
Look at what you did to Mrs Crump. How you paraded her in your Alpha Nero subben. Now you are in your feelings you are ready to turn on them and blame them for all your shorcomings?
Any way, serve them right. They couldn’t wait to get rid of the UPP who gave them their way and supported them to bring you in. Let them take what they get.
Mr. P.M. I like this, unless it is not political. Look into the M.O.E. (teachers) who habitually fail to plan their lessons or submit them for months. Some principals not doing their jobs but are instead very friend and company with teachers. While others are laboring to do these tasks others are getting a slap on the wrist then we wonder why students are failing in the primary schools. Take a serious look into this. Some schools need to be managed better. They have technology to assist and still not utilizing it. Shameful.
D.C.A needs an overhaul.
Gaston,shake up your lazy arse Cabinet.What have they done to justify their monthly salaries and allowances, since 2014 to now? Could it be they are on too many Boards. Look at Public Works and the Minister. What is going on there? Absolutely nothing, to see there. Could one of the reasons being. The Minister spends too much time on West Indies Oil Board of Directors. Not spending enough time doing the people’s business for which she was elected to do. Then appointed by you Gaston Browne as a Cabinet Minister. There are too much damn corruption in Antigua Politics. Too much conflicts of interests that goes on without any consequences.Hotel 1735 awaits all of you thieving Politicians. I cannot wait to see you all backsides there. Do not drop the SOAP!
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