Dumas: Why is there no Chief Administrator in Tobago?

RETIRED head of the public service Reginald Dumas is calling on Deputy Chief Secretary Dr Faith BYisrael to clarify what she meant when she said at a function on Friday that Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has been “trying to deal with several emergencies” arising out of the absence of a Chief Administrator in the THA.

At a sod-turning ceremony to mark the construction of the $300 million Synergy Water Park at Friendship Estate, Tobago, on Friday, BYisrael apologised for Augustine’s absence, saying, “I must indicate that I am standing here today because, unfortunately, the Chief Secretary is unavailable because he has been trying to deal with several emergencies that have come as a result of the Tobago House of Assembly being without a Chief Administrator for almost a month.”

She continued, “Everything that happens as a result of not having a Chief Administrator, our most senior public servant, he is now trying to manage that and trying to deal with the offshoot of that situation.”

On Saturday, Dumas described the absence of a Chief Administrator as unfortunate.

“Why has this situation in which there is no Chief Administrator been allowed to develop?” he asked.

“This is a most unfortunate set of circumstances in which there is no Chief Administrator or acting chief administrator and it would be interesting to know what Dr BYisrael meant when she said or gave the impression that the Chief Secretary might be doing some of the work of the Chief Administrator. I don’t know what that means.”

Dumas made it clear that a politician should not be doing the work a public servant.

“That leads to all kinds of problems. So maybe she can clarify what she meant. In the absence of a chief administrator, who is, in fact, the permanent secretary in the THA, then we could have a problem if the Chief Secretary takes on to himself tasks that are properly those of a public servant because he might find himself in violation of certain aspects of the law.”

For instance, Dumas told Sunday Newsday he can run into problems in the area of accounting.

“The Chief Administrator is the accounting officer. He is not the accounting officer. The Chief Administrator has to account to the Comptroller of Accounts and to the Auditor General whenever he or she is ready.”

He also said the issue in concerns especially as Augustine has not commented on the circulation of an audio clip reported to be of him and Education Secretary Zorisha Hackett discussing the use of public funds to hire people to carry out a propaganda campaign.

Dumas continued, “I will be interested to know what are the functions that the Chief Secretary is at present carrying out in the absence of the top public servant because there could be a crossing of legal lines in the political interest, especially coming after that audio tape, which I am not ascribing to anybody, but nobody has yet taken responsibility for it.

“Whoever it was involved, there was a clear conversation on the issue of using public funds for private political purposes which is a corrupt act and a violation of the law. So we don’t want a situation like that to arise because then the matter will end up in court and if the Chief Secretary has overstepped then he will find himself in a bit of trouble.”Sunday Newsday understands that the Chief Administrator Ethlyn John is on pre-retirement leave.

Chief administrators, who are equal in rank to permanent secretaries, are appointed by the Public Service Commission.