Removing the security on employment tenure and sending home another 1,000 public servants were two of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) conditions, which the government had to get a waiver on before it could have secured the recent $81B in debt relief.

Speaking with reporters on Friday, President Bharrat Jagdeo indicated that the structure of the public service in Guyana did not allow for persons to be disciplined or fired once they are in breach of procedures. Rather, it takes six months to get a person to go home or be suspended under procedures from the Public Service Commission.

Jagdeo said that what was being recommended by the international financial agencies was that the government embrace a more modern approach where the permanent secretary or head of an agency could hire and fire persons.

"We still have to decide what model we will adopt... how far we will go on the security of tenure," Jagdeo said. He said that if the government took this route, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) would accuse it of racism. He said the government was sensitive on how it was going about reforming the public service. It was not pandering to any union but wanted to have a model of public service, which is suitable for Guyana.

He said he wanted an efficient public service and had already told his permanent secretaries that they were accountable for what went on in their ministries.

Jagdeo said deliberations over what model was suitable had been slow; as the government wanted a model it could find "comfort" in, hence the need to get a waiver from the IMF board on this condition.

In addition to that, the IMF wanted the public service reduced by a further thousand employees and the president said he had not agreed to this. He said Patrick Yarde, head of the GPSU, should be championing this decision by the government.