Grenada misses August salaries for public servants

ST GEORGE’S—The Grenada government has come in for criticism after it failed to pay August salaries to public servants on time. A brief government statement over the weekend gave no indication when salaries would be paid and Finance Minister Nizam Burke is in Trinidad on official business. But the Tillman Thomas administration has promised an update on the situation later this week. “I want to express my own empathy with the circumstances of these public workers,” said former tourism minister Peter David, noting that there already exists high unemployment in the country. “(It is) a sad day when that happens,” he added. The main opposition New National Party (NNP) said that teachers were forced to begin a new school terms on Monday without salaries. “This crisis will put a damper on the start of the school year as both teachers and students are being directly affected” said shadow education minister Delma Thomas, adding “many parents have said they cannot send their children out to school on the first day of the year." This is the second time this year that the estimated 4,000 public servants have not been paid on time. In June, there were similar concerns after public servants salaries were delayed by a week and several employment projects suspended due to a lack of funds. “It was quite unfortunate that we didn’t have the regular pre-opening of school de-bushing programme that provides an income for many” said David, who resigned from the Tillman Thomas cabinet in May amidst internal wrangling. Media reports here said that the government was considering borrowing funds from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to meet its obligations to the public servants.