Roadtown, Tortola - Eight public servants were honoured as the Government’s Employees of the Quarter for the second quarter of 2009 at a ceremony held in their honour on Thursday, July 23 at the Prospect Reef Resort’s Callaloo Restaurant.
Honourees for the second quarter are Mrs. Kara Penn Stoutt of the Deputy Governor’s Office; Ms. Angela Burnett Penn of the Conservation and Fisheries Department; Ms. Renee Hodge of the Ministry of Communications and Works; Ms. Edris Allen of the Adina Donovan Home; Ms. Bethsaida Smith of Cabinet Office; Mrs. Tahryn Roberts Baptiste of the Library Services Department; Mrs. Carmen Matthew of the Town and Country Planning Department and Mrs. Karlene Thomas Lucien of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Acting Governor, Mrs. V. Inez Archibald in her remarks told the honourees, “for everything that changes there are some things that remain the same. I am delighted that this group of honourees have demonstrated qualities to the extent that the people around them can recognise.”
The Acting Governor explained “the people who are most difficult to convince are the people who work with you and live with you, so when I see this and hear this I think the public service is doing something right. I thank you for your leadership, I encourage that leadership which will help to encourage others by the way you continue to function, to emulate qualities that you have demonstrated in this place and to bring to the public service the quality of continuous change that will make everybody want to be like you and make the public service their first choice.”
Director of the Department of Human Resources, Mr. David Archer, delivering brief remarks at the ceremony said, “some people sleep then dream and when they wake they write down their dreams and they plan to implement some of those dreams.”
“I will dream of the day where other organisations can join the public service and rise to the highest level and recognise people continuously. I dream that one day people will recognise not just the value of self but also the values of others around them. It is only when we recognise others that you can really recognise yourself. So my hope is that when we thank people it becomes natural. My dream is that saying thank you and congratulations will become the norm not just in the Virgin Islands but throughout the world and specifically in the public service,” Mr. Archer said.
Permanent Secretary in the Deputy Governor’s Office Ms. Julia Christopher also delivered remarks at the ceremony and shared with the group the importance of having pride in their work. “We should all have pride in our work and put our stamp on everything that we do so that later on if we have to go back and give a reason why, we would know why we did what we did,” Ms. Christopher said.
The awardees in their remarks, delivered by Ms. Angela Burnett Penn said, “we pledge to continue to persevere at the level at which we perform our duties and continue to contribute to making our respective offices productive within the public service.”
“We are all proud and feel privileged to be public servants—to be in a position where we can help shape the future and direction of this small part of the world we call home and our children will call home,” Ms. Penn said.
She added, “we stand here tonight recognising that our public service is imperfect—we have a long way to go before grabbing the title of being ‘world-class’. We must realise, however, that getting there cannot be the responsibility of the Human Resources Department alone. Until each one of us makes it our business to be the best that we can be, regardless of the imperfections about us, the service will fall short of this goal.”
The Employee of the Quarter initiative was launched in 2005. This initiative was created as a means of recognising public servants who exceed expectations and set an example for their fellow public servants. This service-wide ‘ministerial level’ recognition programme is administered by the Department of Human Resources-Employee Relations Unit.
British Virgin Islands News