Office of Chief Sec: Persons not hired only for qualifications

The Office of the Chief Secretary says persons are not considered for employment in that Office not on the sole basis of academic qualifications but are required to meet a set of standards to ensure they are suitable and able to function in a given role or position.

In a news release on Friday, the Office of the Chief Secretary also said staff members were paid differing remuneration packages.

The news release also said the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) engages individuals for employment based on a wide range of factors, which include qualifications and experience.

“The Office of the Chief Secretary assures the public that persons engaged in employment at the Office possess a wide variety of skills, expertise and qualifications, which allow them to perform duties in their substantive roles with a high degree of competency and efficiency,” the release said.

Last Thursday, Deputy Chairman of the Tobago Forwards, Kevon McKenna called on Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles also called on the Chief Secretary to investigate the hiring of an individual on August 2, 2017 at the Office of the Chief Secretary, who he said is being paid in excess of $17,000 per month, and who only has two Ordinary Level passes.

“We are calling on the Chief Secretary to investigate this. How did that happen? Was this post advertised and what are the qualifications required for the said post?” McKenna asked.

Speaking at a Tobago Forwards news conference held at the Scarborough Port compound, he also called on Charles to investigate why half of Tobago schools were not ready to be assessed for the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) programme.

Charles is also Secretary of Education, Innovation and Energy. of the issues highlighted by McKenna was the amongst other issues.

“Immediately investigate why 50 per cent of Tobago schools are not ready to be assessed for the CVQ qualification. The CVQ qualification is taught for approximately two years, during the two-year period you have three internal assessments. To date, none of those assessments have been done,” McKenna said.

He wanted to know who was monitoring the programme, where were the technical vocational teachers and what can be done to help the student population.

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