- ‘Several people not paid since October 2023’
Several people who participated during the cultural activities of October 20-27, 2023, have yet to be compensated.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated on NBC Radio last Wednesday that he heard just before New Year’s that certain personnel had not been paid in one or two places.
Gonsalves stated that he understands how popular it is for politicians to stay out of this or that; yet, he wants people to understand that with some public officials, if politicians do not get involved, some things will not be done.
“I called the relevant permanent secretaries and asked, What the hell is going on? I say you get your pay, and I get my pay. How is it that these people not getting the money?”
“Overwhelmingly, the public servants are very good people, but sometimes some of them just lay it back. They would send a piece of paper, and they would tell you that, oh, I sent this to the Ministry of Finance since October. I said, What have you done since then? Well, did you inform your minister? They would often tell me about things that were even more trivial than that, so why do they not tell me that they have a bottleneck? Because, invariably, the bottleneck is easy to resolve. But one public servant doesn’t want to say that another public servant is somewhere holding up the process.”
Gonsalves stated that he does not want anyone who are affected to simply sit down, but rather to come and inform him.
“I want the people themselves not to just sit down. They must get up and tell me. Drop a note, make a telephone call to the office, and I will know about it. And don’t wait until beyond the last minute, beyond the midnight hour, to tell me.”
“This really upsets me when people work and they don’t get the money on a timely basis,” he said.
According to Gonsalves, there is virtually a cabal among some public servants where you can’t say this or that, but he will eventually find out.
“When I know and I speak firmly and robustly, some of them get Vex. I ain’t cussing. I ain’t being angry. I’m just speaking firmly and robustly as to what is required to be done.”
“This really upsets me when people work and they don’t get the money on a timely basis,” Gonsalves said.
