Issues APNU/AFC failed to address in 5 years resolved in 6 weeks – Hamilton

Describing in detail the plans and programmes of the Labour Ministry, Minister Joseph Hamilton on Friday affirmed that the newly-established Ministry was able to hit the ground running, and has achieved quite a lot since the PPP/C administration took office in August this year.

“What the Labour Ministry has done in six weeks, in five years, the past (APNU/AFC) Government did not do,” Hamilton asserted as he faced questions from Opposition Members during the consideration of the capital estimates for the various line item heads under the Ministry.
When the APNU/AFC Government took the reins of power in 2015, it reduced the Ministry of Labour to a mere department within the Social Protection Ministry. However, Hamilton told the National Assembly, under the PPP/C administration, a full-fledged Ministry is being re-established, to tackle all the challenges confronting labour and to help build capacity of the country’s workforce.
He explained that, at present, there is a serious shortage of staff for the various departments within the Ministry in both technical and administrative areas. Filling the vacancies is critical, he said, in order to ensure the Ministry is equipped with the human resources needed to effectively carry out its functions.
According to Hamilton, the Ministry is working to ensure there are at least two labour officers and two health and safety officers in each of the ten administrative regions.

Another important area of focus, he outlined, is training for staff members within the Ministry, and young people across Guyana.
To this end, he noted, the $140 million allocated to the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) would bring the institution to the level it should be.
“The Board of Industrial Training is not where it should be, and we have already planned and outlined where it would be going,” he told the House.
The Minister explained that efforts have commenced to expand the BIT programme and take its services to young people across Guyana. He added that the Ministry has already engaged other training institutions, such as the Critchlow Labour College and the Kuru-Kururu College, to see where they can collaborate.
The BIT, he expressed, would also focus on upgrading and training staff members. In this regard, he noted, the Ministry has already started foreign language training.
“We have already identified twenty-four staff members to start Portuguese. We…also have a programme to train staff members to do Spanish and Chinese”, he declared.
Meanwhile, APNU/AFC MP Coretta McDonald has suggested that the Minister should also focus on ensuring that persons are trained in the areas of collective bargaining and other labour issues.