Disenchantment and despondency are reportedly rife in the Education Ministry. There are rumours of an internal reshuffle among some of Minister Baksh’s top officers coming on the heels of the appointment of Education Minister Shaik Baksh’s former Technical Adviser, a one-time UG Lecturer, Olato Sam as Chief Education Officer.
The Minister’s favoured candidate was handed the job in a matter of months following the retirement of Genevieve Whyte-Nedd. It took Ms. Whyte-Nedd several years not to be confirmed as CEO, which matter is now engaging the attention of the courts.
Baksh is on record as saying that the appointment of CEOs has nothing to do with him though no one actually finds that credible. “The way this Ministry works a CEO will never be appointed if it is known that the Minister will not work with that person,” an official of the Ministry pointed out recently.
The same official pointed out that Sam’s appointment had set an interesting precedent since he has not, as has traditionally been the case, come through the ranks of the profession. The official pointed out that there are professionals in the Ministry who had “worked their hearts out for years,” coming through the teaching system and finally becoming administrators in the Ministry in the expectation that they would become eligible for such a post. It’s unearned; it’s political,” the official said.
