Labour Ministry to have officers in all Regions

The Ministry of Labour is on an aggressive path in ensuring that the country is rid of several
backlog of labour related issues. This is the commitment given by the Minister of Labour, Hon.
Joseph Hamilton.
Speaking exclusively to www.aroundtheregions.com Minister Hamilton said that his vision is to
have at least two officers in each region. This, he said will see several labour tr matters being
dealt with directly in the region instead of persons having to travel to Georgetown. Further, he
said that he plans to divide Georgetown into three sub districts representing Georgetown, East
Coast and East Bank. Importantly, the Labour Minister stressed that those being appointed by his
ministry must be resident in the region that they are assigned to. Explaining the reason for this,
Minister Hamilton said this will greatly reduce some of the logistical challenges that officers
who are unfamiliar of various regions are faced when they have to visit unfamiliar regions to
investigate and or address matters.
“The idea is to collaborate with the RDCs that is why I have been reaching out to the RDCs in
the various regions and engaging them and also for them to recommend persons that can be
trained for the positions to go back and work in the regions,” the Labour Hamilton said.
Disclosing his discussions in the various regions, Minister Hamlton pointed out that his meetings
involved the Regional Demovatitic Councils, the administrative offices in the regions and the
Municipalities in the regions that have Town Councils. “This is important because if I send a an
into Region Nine who doesn’t understand or know the community, that in itself is an exercise all
by itself so I want to have the residents of the region taking up these positions and at the Ministry
of Health similar things have happened here you train nurses and doctors and send them back to
their regions. These persons are more committed and understand their communities better,”
Minister Hamilton suggested.
He declared that he doesn’t want to impose on any region persons from another region coming
into their region. As such, he intends to look to the regional councils for help in identifying the
ideal persons for his ministry. Minister Hamilton pointed out that his ministry has had
discussions with the Kuru Kuru training college for the training of these officers.
“We now have a PS, a deputy PS and I had a meeting earlier with everyone as I discussed a
structure for the ministry. We have to also create administrative departments so we can manage
all the technical departments including Finance,” he said.
Commenting on the issue of adequate labour officers in the various regions. Minister Hamilton
admitted that there is an urgent need for more officers. He said that there is just a sprinkling of
officers in some of the regions with some regions without any. “Some of the regions have a
sprinkling of one here or two but I can’t say how many there are. I know that in some regions
there are none at all more so in the hinterland. In some coastal regions you may have just one

person. So, when we are completed with our discussions of the structure by the next week or two
I would then be in a better position to say what are the complete staff compliments,” he said.
Minister Hamilton disclosed that his ministry has six technical departments, which he said will
be used to address various issues, programmes and projects. He also spoke about the importance
of the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) in the Ministry’s execution of its mandate.