RETIRED head of the public service Reginald Dumas fears anyone appointed to the position of chief administrator by the Public Service Commission may now be perceived as a political appointee.
The THA has been without a chief administrator since Ethlyn John retired on May 17.
Dumas was commenting on the public dispute between the Prime Minister and Chief Secretary Farley Augustine over the lack of a chief administrator.
Dr Rowley and Augustine have both said they are not to blame.
“Here we have a situation in which the Chief Secretary and the Prime Minister are publicly attacking each other, each calling the other deceitful, and after all of that, we have no chief administrator. I don’t see how that benefits Tobago, quite frankly,” Dumas told Newsday.
“Maybe I have left the public service too long, I suppose. If I were young enough and bold enough, I might have offered to mediate and try to come up with a solution.”
Dumas was baffled as to how the issue had become politicised, and wondered: “what it means for a chief administrator, who could be seen as a political appointee, which a public servant ought not to be seen as, and what negative impact this could have on Tobago.”
He added, “I am very disappointed that matters have reached this point. I hope the matter can be sorted out soon.
"But there is clearly going to be a lingering hostility between the two sides, central government and THA, which will do no good for either side, particularly for Tobago.”
At Thursday’s plenary sitting in the Assembly Legislature, Augustine accused the PNM of carrying out a “calculated disinformation campaign” in blaming the THA for the post's being empty.
[caption id="attachment_1022599" align="alignnone" width="1024"] THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine. -[/caption]
Rowley accused Augustine of telling untruths, saying he had spoken to him on several occasions via phone and WhatsApp, but Augustine never said the person who was to be appointed had been suspended after allegations of misconduct.
Alluding to this back-and-forth, Dumas said, “We appear to be now in never-never land. I was assuming that by now someone would have been appointed to be substantively or to act in the post of chief administrator by the Public Service Commission. That seems not now to be the case.”
Saying he had never come across such a situation, Dumas wondered about the arrangements currently in place to address the absence of the island’s most senior public servant.
He reiterated the Chief Secretary, who is the political head of the THA, must never act as or carry out functions that would usually fall within the purview of the chief administrator, who is a public servant.
“You cannot have politicians performing the acts of public servants or vice versa. So the Chief Secretary will be well advised to stay far from any action that could be construed as interfering in the public service.”
Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Chief Secretary Certica Williams-Orr confirmed to Newsday that the THA is still without a chief adm
