Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar does not have to give a reason for firing a member of her government since T&T is modelled on the Westminster system says former head of the public service, Reginald Dumas. In the name of transparency, however, Dumas said the PM ought to give reasons. He said the Government would encounter great difficulty restoring trust in the public because right now it was not engaging their attention on issues.
In an interview yesterday, Dumas, who has an extensive diplomatic background said if the PM dismissed a person and then gave that person another job, then it suggested that she was not desperately unhappy with the person. He said, "I have not known a government where the prime minister has dismissed so many people in such a short space of time or even a longer period of time and therefore, it raises the question of the type of person who is being put as minister because if these people are so inadequate, then the question arises in the quality of judgment and also the question of criteria used for selection of ministers and board members.
"If the person is incompetent then why give them another job?" He questioned whether the main criteria was loyalty to party or competence. Dumas said he was disappointed by the PP's style of governance and had hoped in the run-up to the 2010 general elections the country would have seen a difference over the last adminstration. He said there was a deficit of trust and confidence within the population and that the latest episode with the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Amendment Act 2012, had done nothing to enhance Government's credibility.
Eight axed
Since the People's Partnership assumed office in May 2010, eight people have been axed by the PM, the first being Mary King who was minister of Planning, Restructuring and Gender Affairs. Persad-Bissessar had then given a reason for King's firing. However, in her first Cabinet reshuffle in June 2011, when she got rid of three former ministers-Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis, Minister of Public Administration Rudrawatee Nan Gosine-Ramgoolam and Minister in the Ministry of National Security Subhas Panday, the Prime Minister did not give reasons.
She instead offered them diplomatic postings. Panday however refused the offer to become consul general in Toronto. Others who were fired without reason are former national security minister John Sandy and former gender affairs minister Verna St Rose-Greaves. They also refused diplomatic posts. In the latest saga of firings, reasons were given for minister in the ministry of national security Collin Partap and former justice minister Herbert Volney.