Chief Sec: Too many THA staff in acting positions

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has said too many senior public servants are in acting positions at the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

On the Tobago Updates morning programme on Tuesday, Augustine said such situations contribute to a demoralising work environment.

“It is a whole Hollywood going on – everybody acting, Most of our administrators are not confirmed administrators and have not been paid an administrator’s salary for a long while,” he said. “People have been acting for years, sometimes, one, two, three positions higher, and still being paid at their substantive (levels)…Things like that feed into a very demoralised staff.”

Augustine admitted he took a while to get used to the situation when he became chief secretary in December 2021.

“I will be honest: when I got in, I was really hard and not understanding of why people just can’t move things along much faster, much more efficiently.

“But when you have a staff that is as demoralised as that, it is difficult to ask someone who is struggling. Their salaries are not where it should be. They are rightfully entitled to more pay, but they not getting it for years – but having to do the work. It is difficult to demand more from a worker such as that.”

He said the assembly is trying to see how best the problem can be resolved.