More than 200 people were hired by the Minnis administration two months before the September general election, Minister of State for the Public Service Pia Glover-Rolle said.
“Regrettably, all indications are that the hiring decisions by the former minister in the lead-up to the general elections smacked of electioneering, heavily influenced by political considerations, and nothing Mr. Rolle said to the media in his defense remotely addressed or refuted the facts as presented above,” Glover-Rolle said in a statement over the weekend.
She was responding to former Public Service Minister Brensil Rolle who defended the former administration’s hiring practices and accused the Davis administration of victimizing Bahamians.
The two got into a back and forth after the minister said on Wednesday that the government may have to lay off several people hired in the last eight weeks of the Minnis administration’s term. She said some employees are being paid to stay home because the government has no place to put them.
The former minister issued a statement the next day saying this was a “disgraceful act of victimization of innocent Bahamians and we urge the PLP to immediately stop this practice and have these Bahamians return to work”.
But Glover-Rolle said, “Two hundred and thirty-three persons were approved by the former government for employment in July 2021, just two months before the 16th September general elections.
“Of that amount, 85 remain unposted because upon assuming office, an immediate hold was placed on those hires pending a status review.
“Sixty-eight persons hired just prior to the general elections, mostly in the Family Islands, were already placed on the government’s payroll, however, they are under review due to gross attendance irregularities.
“I note that the persons mentioned above exclude those unposted for reasons of unvaccination.”
Last week, Rolle said fewer than 10 people “have been signing into the Ministry of the Public Service and then they have not been properly placed because they were required to be vaccinated because of the agency where they were assigned for consideration”.
Glover-Rolle also said that contract extensions were “executed in the days and weeks prior” to the election.
“I also point out to Mr. Rolle that it is egregious and disgraceful to give persons official letters of employment, but with nowhere to report, or to have them report to agencies that in turn send them back to the Public Service,” she said.
“Mr. Rolle must answer for this. Responsible hiring practices call for the placement of individuals in posts that are needed, complete with established and approved job descriptions and not rushed hiring of individuals for posts that are unavailable.”
The government is assessing more than 400 promotions and hires that took place in the last seven to eight weeks of the Minnis administration’s term, Glover-Rolle has said.
The promotions and hires under review were halted following the general election.
The post Minister hits back at Rolle over ‘electioneering’ hirings appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/minister-hits-back-at-rolle-over-electioneering-hirings/
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