P.S.U. Chides Briceño Administration for Suspending Public Officer

John Briceño

The Public Service Union has come out against the actions taken by the Briceño administration in placing a public officer on administrative leave, following an incident last weekend during which Prime Minister John Briceño requested that the officer facilitate the importation of plants into the country. The incident has caused public outrage which has only been made worse with the suspension of the officer. This morning, trade unionist and former P.S.U. President Jacqueline Willoughby chided the prime minister and the Minister of Agriculture for interfering in the work of the public officer.

Jacqueline Willoughby

Jacqueline Willoughby, Public Service Union

“I find that it was really bashful for the prime minister to have gotten on television and speak about calling a public officer. With the greatest of respect, he is not an accounting officer. In accordance with the constitution, the accounting officer for the ministry is the C.E.O. It simply meant that if the PM wanted to advance, he or Mr. Mai, wanted to advance any instructions, it would have had to be advanced through the C.E.O. who would have advanced it to the director or their H.O.D. and then to the officer’s supervisor and then to the officer. This is what is so wrong in the public service.  Every government that has come in has used the public service as their toy and determines that when they can’t get what they want done, they would manipulate and bulldoze public officers.  What has happened to Mr. Chi is a travesty and this union will ensure to stand by his side to make sure that he is penalized for doing his job. Because that’s the other thing that’s irritating, there are statutes how things, how plants enter this country. There are statutes.  What the PM effectively did, and what Mr. Mai effectively did was to call Mr. Chi to ask him not to do his job. That is a travesty.”