The “Musical Chairs” of Permanent Secretary Must Stop! Reimagining Leadership in the Public Service
Dear Editor,
Recent reports regarding the reassignment of several Permanent Secretaries across Government ministries once again bring into focus an issue that has lingered within the public service of Antigua and Barbuda for far too long. While administrative reshuffles are often presented as routine measures to achieve the “best fit” across ministries, decades of experience suggest that the continued shifting of the same pool of Permanent Secretaries from one ministry to another has not necessarily strengthened the day-to-day operational leadership required within Government institutions.
The role of a Permanent Secretary is among the most critical within the machinery of Government. These officers are the administrative heads of ministries and serve as the bridge between policy direction from elected officials and the effective implementation of programmes and services for the people. In practice, however, the system has too often produced an environment in which operational decision-making is slow, technical matters remain unattended for extended periods, and issues that should be resolved administratively are unnecessarily escalated to Ministers or even to the Prime Minister.
Many public officers and stakeholders within the system quietly acknowledge a number of persistent challenges. Too often, decision-making is delayed or avoided altogether. Interpersonal leadership is lacking in some cases, with management styles influenced more by ego, gossip, or hearsay than by professionalism and evidence.
Also, many tend to fall asleep when meetings start to dive into the details, or they get lost in the required action points. As such, meetings become exercises in performative formality rather than spaces for decisive and effective administrative leadership. In some instances, Permanent Secretaries struggle even with basic use of modern technology, such as monitoring and responding to official correspondence via email, WhatsApp, and other instant messaging applications, which is an essential function in the contemporary public sector. These realities allow issues within ministries to fester and boil over, ultimately undermining efficiency and accountability.
Equally important is the fact that several ministries require highly capable administrators who possess not only managerial ability but also a degree of technical competence and intellectual engagement with the subject matter of their portfolios. Ministries such as Health, Finance, Foreign Affairs, and Agriculture operate in environments that demand constant attention to detail, policy awareness, and the ability to engage with complex technical issues. In such ministries, the Permanent Secretary must be alert, responsive, and sufficiently knowledgeable to guide the ministry’s internal machinery with confidence.
Yet the existing, woeful pool of Permanent Secretaries lacks the youthful energy, technical competence, technological fluency, and forward-looking management approach that modern governance demands. The continued practice of “musical chairs,” where the same administrators rotate through ministries, risks recycling the same structural challenges rather than solving them.
If Antigua and Barbuda’s public service is to evolve, the Government must begin deliberately cultivating a new generation of administrative leaders. Across the public sector, there are many young, professional, competent, and highly educated officers. Whether established or non-established, such individuals should be identified through a transparent and rigorous process, interviewed, trained, and gradually introduced into senior administrative leadership.
A structured pathway could be created for prospective Permanent Secretaries, including professional development, leadership training, and a period of probation during which their performance is carefully evaluated. Such an approach would allow the government to build a modern cadre of administrators capable of managing ministries efficiently and responding to the increasingly complex demands of governance.
At the same time, the institutional knowledge of existing senior administrators should not be discarded. Those Permanent Secretaries who may no longer be best suited to the pace and demands of day-to-day ministry management could transition into advisory roles within the Civil Service. In such positions, they could provide guidance, historical context, and institutional memory to newer leaders while allowing ministries to benefit from fresh administrative energy.
I therefore urge the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda to look seriously at the future composition of the Permanent Secretary cadre. The country deserves a public service that is dynamic, competent, technologically capable, and committed to effective day-to-day management of government ministries.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Youth
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