"Public appointment and patronage, are integral to all levels of government in the United Kingdom. The system extends from the centre of power, where some unelected ministers still hold major offices of state, down to the level of local authorities and local services. This is the case in all modern democracies..."
Government by Appointment: Opening Up The Patronage State. Report of the House of Commons Select Committee, 2003.
I do not know Dr Anselm London and there may very well be good reasons why he should not be hired to advise young Finance Secretary Joel Jack in the new position. None of these reasons, however, have been articulated so far in the public debate.
When I joined the Ministry of the Attorney General as adviser, policy and media research, in April 2003, there was a minor furor over my compensation package, which was then $27,500. The base compensation was then roughly equivalent to the salary of a government minister.
I had not asked for the job and had been recruited by former attorney general Glenda Morean-Phillips, whom, prior to the interview at which the offer was made, I had never met. She had read my work and thought I had skills which she desperately needed. I told her she could not afford me and suggested other candidates who I suggested were equally capable and more affordable.
She insisted and I eventually agreed on the grounds that there should be no loss of income. The salary I eventually settled on and which was eventually agreed to by the Government's chief personnel officer (CPO), who decides on these matters, was based on a monthly payment to approximate my annual compensation of $375,515.87 from my previous employer.
My compensation then with the CCN Group included base salary and bonus. I was also entitled to an executive medical plan at CCN which the CPO said was only offered to ministers and permanent secretaries and which I had to forgo.
The matter was raised by former opposition senator Robin Montano, who did not question my qualifications or experience, or even whether I could command the salary, but asked whether the job had been advertised. It is a similar argument that has been employed now as questions are being raised over the proposed employment by the THA of former finance secretary London, as an adviser to the Secretary for Finance.
This is a political adviser position and nowhere in the world, whether in the Westminster tradition which we follow, or in the US presidential system where they are even more prevalent, are such positions filled by advertisement. The first requirement for anyone filling the post is that the person must enjoy the trust and confidence of the office-holder.
According to a statement in Parliament made in April 2011, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar hired a number of advisers with salaries ranging from $20,000 to $40,000 a month, with none of the positions being advertised, in keeping with the convention for such positions.
Not one of them even approximated London's qualifications or experience, since apart from being a former finance secretary, he has also worked in Canada and the OECS region and once served as a deputy director of the African Development Bank. Anyone who knows about financial consultants, especially in the field of developmental economics, would know that they do not come at $60,000 a month.
Much has been made of the fact that London is the cousin of the THA's Chief Secretary, which cannot seriously mean that he is disqualified from ever doing any work for the THA, especially in a field for which he is well qualified.
Are we to believe that our concept of integrity in public life, which allows a prime minister to spend over $1 million in a year on her sister's employment as a travel assistant, cannot countenance the employment of a highly-qualified financial adviser for $60,000 a month? And for a position in which a compensation consultant has advised the salary should be $90,000?
While the literature suggests such appointments may be susceptible to abuse (and we have seen our share of examples), they have also been shown to be quite beneficial when the persons selected are well qualified.
In Partisan Appointees and Public Servants, An International Analysis of the Role of the Political Adviser, Eichbaum and Shaw quoted from a UK parliamentary report which stated:
"We also heard evidence from civil servants and others of the benefits that special advisers can bring: they can for example protect civil servants by carrying out work that might raise doubts about civil service neutrality. They may also provide valuable insight which can improve policy by providing a political dimension. Policy has to work in the real world, and a good special adviser can help contribute to this reality check."
This is a country which allows tens of millions to be paid to lawyers (and not just British QCs) in pursuit of questionable legal action which bring no benefit to the local taxpayers. If I could have ten per cent of that, I would be able to afford a Rolls Royce and invest in million-dollar real estate.
Another specious argument advanced is over the performance of the Tobago economy under London's stewardship. When one considers that the recruitment of Minister of Finance Larry Howai has cost this country $10 million in ex-gratia payments through First Citizens, with no boon yet to the performance of the economy, London's $60,000 a month sounds like a very good deal.
Maxie Cuffie runs a media consultancy, Integrated Media Company Ltd, is an economics graduate of the UWI and holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School as a Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management.