BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OVER EC$ 14 million has been allocated to the Office of the Prime Minister for the fiscal year 2010, a marked reduction of 10.18% from the 2009 allocation.
As revealed in the 2010 Budget Address delivered by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, that office has been allocated EC $14,103,908, of which EC $11,921,052 is budgeted for Recurrent Expenditure and EC $2,182,856 for Capital Expenditure.
One of the major initiatives to be implemented by this office is a job evaluation exercise that will be carried out by the Human Resource Management Department and would facilitate the development of standardized job descriptions in all ministries. The Budget also noted that this department would seek to establish a Performance Management System to enhance the overall human resource management of the public sector.
Last year, the Office of the Prime Minister was allocated EC $15,702,752, an increase of 1.7% from 2008. Similar human resource management programmes were part of the annual objectives for that office in 2009.
The modernization and computerization of the Human Resources Management function took high priority in the office and, according to the 2009 Budget Address, “efforts are already underway for the computerization of Civil Service personnel files through a data capturing process. This exercise is expected to be completed in 2009 and will greatly improve the efficiency of the Human Resource Department in the management of personnel data”.
During 2010, as the Budget Address states, the Administration Division of the Office of the Prime Minister will be strengthened to provide greater support in the discharge of his duties.
Initiatives launched and supported through the 2009 Budget include electoral reform, the Communications Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (CUOPM), Ask the PM radio Programme and the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency.
The construction of a building to house the National Archives as promised in the 2009 Budget was expected to commence within the first quarter of last year. Though the Budget states that the Government of the Republic of China on Taiwan “graciously committed to funding the construction”, there has been no progress made in this regard.
