-signals legal action
The Guyana Public Service Union says the Ministry of Education stalled the appointment of Genevieve Whyte-Nedd as Chief Education Officer by saying in 2006 that it was in the midst of a restructuring exercise.
To date Whyte-Nedd has not been appointed but the union charged that other persons were appointed to posts even though the hold on Whyte-Nedd’s appointment apparently continued.
In its support of the acting Chief Education Officer, the union said it will be taking legal action against the Public Service Commission (PSC) which it says is culpable in failing to appoint Whyte-Nedd to the post.
At a press conference last Friday at GPSU headquarters, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Patrick Yarde, the head of the GPSU, reading from a prepared statement, said that he felt “compelled to share additional information which may serve to place the Whyte-Nedd case in proper perspective.”
Earlier in the month the GPSU had voiced its disappointment over the “failure” to appoint Whyte-Nedd to the post of CEO. Whyte-Nedd has been acting in the position for over four years.
Yarde stated that his union was in possession of information “which establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that functionaries of the Ministry of Education were instrumental and complicit” in the CEO post not being filled when Whyte-Nedd was acting in that position.
Whyte-Nedd had applied for the CEO position in 2006 in response to a Public Service Commission advertisement of the vacancy, Yarde pointed out. But he said that the PSC sought a reaction from the Education Ministry regarding the filling of the vacancy.
The ministry’s response was that it was “in the process of restructuring the education department.” It then asked that the filling of the vacancy be held off until the exercise was completed.
Yarde produced copies of the letters to the media. One of the letters was from the PSC seeking advice from the Ministry of Education and the other was the ministry’s response.
According to Yarde, “It is our understanding, view and expectation based on experience that matters of the restructuring of a ministry would inevitably be a matter of policy and engage the attention of the relevant Minister and Cabinet.”
Yarde added that “we strongly believe that the position proffered by the ministry in respect of the position of Chief Education Officer was merely a guise to exclude Whyte-Nedd from consideration for the appointment of the post.”
Yarde said that it is also taking issue with the Education Minister who stated that appointments of positions are not within his ministry.
Yarde noted that the minister “conveniently” omitted mentioning the restructuring exercise “clearly to (the) frustration of Mrs Whyte-Nedd.”
“It is alarming and unconscionable that the administration would feel no remorse or express regret in utilising and effectively exploiting her services for such an inordinately long period of time without displaying the decency that she enjoy what she has fully merited,” Yarde stated.
Whyte-Nedd’s case, the GPSU head said “is particularly grievous to us” since her non-appointment was a clear violation of an agreement and principle between the union and the PSC where there is an automatic appointment to vacant positions which were occupied for more than three years by officers who were acting in the post and are fully qualified.
The PSC, Yarde said, has a constitutional mandate to discharge these functions and no one legally can obstruct it. It is clear evidence of communication between the commission and the ministry and we have come to a conclusion.
Yarde believes that “the whole exercise” is “ to wait her out” since Whyte-Nedd is scheduled to retire before the end of the year. He said too that “we tried to allow decency to surface and we were hoping that there were professional and objective persons at the commission.” The PSC, he said, has now put the commission’s integrity at stake and should “draw a line and deal with the matter.”
