Guyana is experiencing one of the most remarkable periods of economic growth in its history. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country remains among the world’s fastest-growing economies, with real GDP expanding by more than 19 per cent in 2025, following extraordinary average growth of nearly 40 per cent in 2023 and 2024. Oil production has exceeded 900,000 barrels per day, while the non-oil economy has also expanded strongly, driven by construction, agriculture, mining and manufacturing. With unemployment falling to 6.2 per cent, Guyana’s economy is clearly moving rapidly forward.
But as the economy accelerates, a serious question arises: is Guyana’s civil service keeping pace, or is bureaucracy becoming one of the biggest obstacles to national development? The Government can announce projects, allocate billions of dollars, and establish ambitious development programmes. However, none of these plans can succeed if those responsible for implementing them are unwilling, slow, or unaccountable.
Many hardworking and dedicated civil servants deserve recognition. Yet there is a growing perception among citizens that some government employees, not all, have become too comfortable in secure positions, with salaries, benefits and pensions guaranteed regardless of performance. The public repeatedly complains about unnecessary delays, unanswered questions, files left on desks, being passed from one department to another, and decisions that take far longer than they reasonably should. When citizens must repeatedly chase government officers to obtain basic services, something is seriously wrong with the system.
The most troubling issue is the attitude of some civil servants. Instead of recognising that their responsibility is to serve the people of Guyana, some behave as though citizens exist to serve them. They forget that their salaries and benefits ultimately come from public funds. They are not the President, nor are they Ministers or elected officials. Their responsibility is to carry out their duties professionally, administer government policies and provide services to the public. Yet some appear to act as though they have the authority to obstruct, delay or disregard government programmes simply because they occupy a particular position.
The opposition leader, Azruddin Mohamed, is allegedly using money to obtain information about certain government projects. If civil servants are providing confidential government information in exchange for money, this is unacceptable and raises serious concerns about the integrity of the public service. Government employees have a duty to protect official information and the interests of the state, not to sell or disclose sensitive facts, figures or project details for personal or political gain. If such allegations are proven, those involved should face appropriate legal and disciplinary consequences, particularly if the information is being passed to individuals facing serious criminal allegations.
A prominent investor from the USA explained that investing in Guyana has not always been straightforward, citing bureaucratic delays, inconsistent procedures and a lack of clearly enforced standards as some of the challenges investors encounter. He noted that there is often a tendency to find temporary workarounds for existing systems rather than addressing underlying weaknesses and improving the processes themselves.
He stressed that while informal arrangements may seem convenient in the short term, they can ultimately lead to inefficiency, limited accountability, and missed opportunities for the country.
One of our journalists was recently accused of failing to publish enough articles on our online newspaper about the President and the Vice President. Unfortunately, the civil servant who made this accusation appears not to have checked the records or taken the time to understand the work of Democracy Guyana, our online newspaper platform, which publishes articles about the President, the Vice President, the PPP government and opposition parties daily.
He mistook us for another publication. Instead of apologising, reviewing the available material, and verifying the facts, our journalist was completely ignored. This raises a serious question about whether this civil servant properly fulfilled his responsibilities. If an official is expected to make assessments or raise concerns about the work of a global and Guyanese media organisation, the very least expected is that he should first examine the facts, check the records, and understand the organisation he is commenting on. Instead, the civil servant accused our journalist of bullying, and our research showed that whenever he allegedly loses an argument, he deliberately accuses the other person of bullying. That is his defence, and he does this to those who prove him wrong.
This is a classic example of a civil servant waiting for his pension. It is important to emphasise that many Guyanese professional civil servants are dedicated to their work. They are a gift to Guyana’s civil service. However, there are some bad apples in the civil service who are damaging the good reputation of the other 95%.
Guyana inherited its public service structure from the British colonial system, in which civil servants were expected to serve the state and keep government functioning. Over the decades, however, the civil service was also shaped by the political and ethnic divisions that defined Guyana, particularly during the Burnham era. Questions about the representation of Afro-Guyanese, Indo-Guyanese and Amerindian citizens in institutions such as the civil service, police and army have remained part of the country’s political history. Guyana cannot allow those historical divisions to determine the effectiveness of its institutions today.
The country has entered a new economic era. The discovery of vast offshore oil reserves has given Guyana an opportunity that previous generations could never have imagined. The Government is pursuing major investments in infrastructure, energy, housing, healthcare, agriculture and industrial development. Yet if government employees continue to operate with the mentality and pace of decades past, the country will not realise the full benefits of its economic transformation.
Some civil servants appear to have forgotten one important fact: their job is to serve the people of Guyana, not to become obstacles between the people and their government. A government department should not be a place where citizens wait weeks or months for a simple approval, document, licence or response. Every unnecessary delay has consequences. Businesses lose money, investors lose confidence, contractors face difficulties, and ordinary citizens become frustrated with the very institutions that are supposed to serve them. The government, for no reason, gets the blame.
The Government therefore needs to take a much harder look at performance across the public service. Civil servants should not be able to remain in positions indefinitely without meaningful performance evaluations. Every department should set clear targets, define measurable responsibilities and conduct regular reviews. Officers who consistently perform well should be recognised, while those who repeatedly fail to do their jobs should be required to improve and, where necessary, face appropriate consequences.
The Government must also examine the culture within departments where employees believe job security shields them from accountability. A pension at the end of a career should not be an excuse for poor performance during that career. Public employment is a responsibility, not a lifetime guarantee of doing the minimum. The people of Guyana deserve officers who understand that every working day is an obligation to the country.
This criticism should not be taken as an attack on all civil servants. Many public officers work extremely hard under difficult circumstances and deserve respect. But those employees should not bear the reputational burden caused by colleagues who are careless, unresponsive or unwilling to perform. Protecting poor performers in the name of the civil service only damages the institution’s credibility.
Guyana’s economic growth is creating an opportunity to transform the country, but growth alone is not enough. The nation also needs efficient government machinery capable of delivering results. If billions of dollars are being invested in development while government departments continue to operate slowly and inefficiently, Guyanese citizens will not receive the full benefits of the country’s oil wealth.
The public therefore has every right to ask whether the Government is implementing its manifesto as planned and whether every part of the state apparatus is helping or hindering that process. The civil service cannot be treated as untouchable. If Guyana wants to move forward, civil servants must recognise that the country is changing and that the old culture of unnecessary delays, complacency and lack of accountability cannot persist.
Guyana’s economy is advancing at a remarkable pace. Its civil service must either keep pace or risk becoming one of the biggest obstacles to the country’s development.