Education staff a nightmare

THE EDITOR: I have simply been frustrated out of my wits with the gross levels of incompetence and unprofessionalism from certain members of staff at the Ministry of Education. Clerk IIIs who are charged with the responsibility of handling the procurement of products and services for the Ministry are simply taking goods and not preparing the paperwork on-time for the processing of payments to suppliers.

My company has been doing business with the ministry recently and it’s staggering that on each occasion we follow-up on payments, we are informed that clerk IIIs are not submitting their documents on time. In most cases, this is due to absenteeism. When I ask who takes over in their absence, the answer is nobody, that we’ll have to wait until they return to work (even when they go on vacation or extended leave). Apparently handing over assignments and files are proving to be herculean.

So there’s a snag with them, but when liaising with the ministry officials who get the documents eventually, they too do a little tango with us. It’s either that they blame the clerk IIIs or claim that the cheque machine is down. One officer puts you onto another and then before you know it, you’ve made a full circle in the ministry with no result. What’s even more frightening is that this is a ministry charged with educating the minds of our children, and if that is how they operate, then I weep to see what those children grow up to become under such incompetence.

Antoine C Douglas. Belmont