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It’s Public Service Day and all across the country public officers who’ve excelled either with long service or outstanding performance were honoured. Here’s how it went in Belize City.

Henry Marsden, Sr. Customs Officer
“I have thought several times of moving on but it always has some obstacles in the way and the reward of serving the public is always so good that I always end up staying at Customs.”

And today Senior Customs Officer Henry Marsden was awarded for those long years of service. The recognition was part of activities held to observe Public Service Day.

Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of the Public Service
“In general I would want to say that at least 80% of the public service are good public officers that are trying to deliver good service to the people. I know they often get a very bad rap about the delivery of service but the truth of the matter is there may be some rotten eggs but most of the public service are people who are dedicated to delivering good service to the people. So we need to single them out, we need to award and reward them.”

Presently there is a total of twelve thousand public servants but as explained by Minister of Public Service John Saldivar, the challenge is keeping those employees in the public service.

Hon. John Saldivar,
“And that is the challenge that faces us when we train, especially when we pay for public officers to get training, pay for their schooling, pay for their fees and so on and when they come back in, then they are attracted by the higher salaries in the private sector. That is always going to be a challenge but inherent in any public officer is that desire to serve and you have to have that in you to want to serve the Belizean public. It is not always about money and those are the type of public officers that we want to attract and train.”

The day was also observed with an exhibition that featuring the kinds of services offered to the general public.

Hon. John Saldivar,
“If you want to deliver good service, you have to make sure your public officers are well trained and equipped with the knowledge they need to be able to deliver service. So from the standpoint of our Ministry, we have lifted the moratorium on study leave, for instance, which was instituted under the last government. And so now we are allowing pubic officers across the public service to apply for study leave to train themselves so they can deliver better service.

I have observed in the short that I have been there that officers are not being properly rewarded for their training and so if you want to encourage people to train then you have to make sure that when they are complete with their training, they are properly rewarded.”

Henry Marsden,
“We always make sure that where the public is concerned, they are taken care of first before our personal needs.”

Similar activities were held in Toledo, Stann Creek, Cayo, Belmopan, Orange Walk and Corozal. Public Service Day was observed under the theme, ‘Belize Public Service – informing and empowering the community with sustainable services.”