Home Affairs Ministry Perma-nent Secretary, Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas was carrying a significant amount of cash but below the threshold for declaration when she was selected for a secondary inspection on April 8th at Miami International Airport in the US and her cell phone subsequently confiscated.
The government has maintained silence on what it will do in relation to Toussaint Jr Thomas as a result of the seizure of the cellphone and the revocation of her US visa given what could have possibly been behind the moves by the US Customs and Border Protection.
Toussaint Jr Thomas submitted a report on the April 8th incident to Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and this was to be transmitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enable further dialogue with the US authorities. It is unclear if the report was forwarded to the ministry.
Sources close to the government say that Toussaint Jr Thomas was carrying around the equivalent of US$9,000 when she was questioned by the authorities in the US. She then continued onwards to China. Since the government had said that she was on a PPP-related training programme, questions will likely be raised as to why she was carrying that amount of cash.
Sources say several months ago, a close relative of Toussaint Jr Thomas who is a US citizen also had their phone seized at a US airport, underlining that the US authorities have been keeping a close watch on their movements.
Meanwhile, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran has rapped Benn for suggesting that the appointment a PS is solely at the discretion of the President.
Writing in his accountability column in Monday’s edition of Stabroek News, Goolsarran said: “Amid criticisms about political party officials being appointed to the position of Permanent Secretary in what has traditionally been a politically neutral Public Service, the Minister of Home Affairs asserted that such appointments are solely at the discretion of the President. However, all appointments to the Public Service, including those of Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive Officers, are the responsibility of the Public Service Commission (PSC), as provided for by Article 201(1) of the Constitution:
“The power to make appointments to public offices and to remove and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding or acting in such offices shall vest in the Public Service Commission.
“There are of course exceptions in relation to certain offices, but the office of the Permanent Secretary is not listed as one of them. The 2015 report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service specifically stated that it concurred with the views of many of those who have given testimonies, that Permanent Secretaries and Regional Exe-cutive Officers should be appointed by the PSC, instead of the President and the Minister of Communities. In this way, there will be a more integrated Public Service and greater synergies with the Administrative Regions. Accordingly, the Commission recommended the following:
“(a) The PSC be reconstituted with suitably qualified and competent persons of high integrity to exercise their duties in strict fairness, impartiality, and on the basis of merit. It is desirable, as in the case of the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, that members of the Commission should possess experience and show capacity in matters relating to administration, human resource management or public affairs;
“(b) The Constitution and other applicable laws be appropriately amended to empower the PSC to appoint Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive Officers;
“(c) All appointments to the Public Service positions be open to internal and external competitions to obtain the best from the labour market; and
“(d) All appointments by the PSC be on the basis of merit and be free from political influences, and meet the essential qualifications and requirements for the jobs to be performed”.
Goolsarran said it cannot be over-emphasised that governments come and governments go, but it is the professional and politically neutral Public Service that provides the institutional memory to facilitate continuity.
