Public Service Minister Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyotte has expressed concern over reports that some public service departments resist introducing new technology as part of the ‘digital revolution.’
“The time is now for Saint Lucia to fully harness the power of technology and realise the great benefits of digital transformation,” Albert-Poyotte told an official digital device handover ceremony Friday.
She noted that the administration had gone to great lengths to establish a modern digital government infrastructure with an aggressive approach to constant improvement.
The Minister said the new system, including the digiGOV platform, had made operations more seamless and efficient.
And she cautioned the different ministries and agencies to embrace change.
“Our department has been getting some resistance to the changes that we are talking about,” Albert-Poyotte explained.
“It is costing government a lot of money when we have invested in bringing technology so that we can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service and then you are getting barriers created – you are getting resistance,” the Babonneau MP told the audience.
She declared that Saint Lucia would only achieve its technology goals with the cooperation of the different ministries and Permanent Secretaries.
Regarding Permanent Secretaries, Albert-Poyotte observed that she has always had difficulty concerning that designation.
“The word ‘permanent’ is a little too permanent. There are some that have to be temporary. So once it’s permanent it means you can’t touch it. So we are saying the Permanent Secretaries, the Deputy Permanent Secretaries, the Heads of Department, we appeal to you for your full cooperation to make this project a reality,” she stated.
“I am getting the feedback from my department that when they do enter certain departments to assist, they are getting some resistance from, not necessarily the PS – the staff. You need to prepare your staff to embrace change,” Albert-Poyotte asserted.
Seems if u could u would open mouths and shove the food down one’s throat! Why not engage departments and the populists at large by way of community meetings and educate persons as too the benefits instead of this forceful or masa type attitude you’re trying to portray here. One would think u have a deadline or quota too reach or else the way you’re coming with your speeches
Sounds like a classic training issue. The article left me wondering if an in-depth training program was advanced, prior to public roll out.
Generally, hesitancy and poor confidence by employees, display training deficiencies.
Sounds like every thing launched by government. Adopting something 20 years after it has become maintstream and expecting people to just accept it. We just adopt foreign concepts without educating the people. We assume if it’s successful in an another country it must work here without trying to educate people. What they don’t realize that digital transformation is not just taking a paper form and replacing it with a website. That’s a 90s mentality. Hello, the 90s ended over 20 years ago. It requires engagement with stakeholders. Sadly, our government fails to engage all stakeholders and launches these digiGovs websites without considering the net benefit and drawbacks.
We have a bunch of faux intellectuals who don’t understand value proposition and value creation, launching initiatives without understanding their customer’s needs or their interpretation of value.