THE Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has issued a statement debunking claims which it describes as “mischievous” pertaining to alleged discrimination within the ministry.

The claims were made in a letter signed by a ‘Concerned Senior Staff’ to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and copied to Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo; Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton and Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon.

In the letter, the staff purported serious allegations against current Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, including that of racism and nepotism, seeking the President’s “urgent intervention” to address these claims.

The letter was made public by Opposition Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul, a former staff of the ministry, whose employment was recently terminated by the Public Service Commission.

A press release from the ministry, addressing the allegations, noted that the letter presents a false narrative about the ministry and its operation, and is “riddled with inaccuracies, speculations and conjecture.”

“The ministry wishes to deflate any theories being bandied about, that the ministry is anti-Black and pro-Hindu. In fact, 98 per cent of the minister’s secretariat is not of East Indian ethnicity,” the release noted.

The letter to the President noted that since the Permanent Secretary assumed office, at least four contractual staff of African descent lost their job, while others are awaiting the end of their contracts.

The ministry’s press release noted that “everyone remains on staff including known members of the APNU+AFC who served as polling agents and activists and no staff was terminated from the ministry except those who were political appointees”.

UNCHANGED

It further stated that all Head of Departments remains unchanged, except in the case of the Sanitation Unit where the Head has surpassed the age of retirement, and has since been retained in an advisory capacity, with salary and benefits unchanged.

The letter noted that the Permanent Secretary “dismantled” the Procurement Department, and placed the procurement manager under the guidance of an engineer; in turn placing the Procurement Department under the Engineering Department and made the procurement manager a “rubber stamp”.

In addressing this, the press release from the ministry noted that the procurement manager has not been relieved of his duties and is still being allowed to function in that capacity.

“However, his department has now been subsumed as part of the restructuring of the Engineering and Procurement Services Unit. His salary also remains unchanged,” the release noted.

The letter makes mention of two drivers who are also awaiting the end of their contracts; however, the ministry cleared the air noting that one of those drivers is currently interdicted pending a criminal matter, while the other has surpassed the age of retirement and his contract has expired.

It also claims that a young woman of African descent attached to the Permanent Secretary Secretariat was denied a duty-free concession, allegedly due her ethnicity, while others were afforded the opportunity.

REASSIGNED

“The issue with the staff not being granted duty-free concession, the staff mentioned has been reassigned within the ministry in a capacity that does not require field work,” the press release noted.

Further, the “concerned senior staff” noted that the Permanent Secretary has formulated a Social Committee to plan activities for the ministry, of which 98 per cent of members are of East Indian descent or of Hindu religion, with the only person of African descent being that of the Deputy Permanent Secretary.

The release explained that this is far from the truth, as the committee comprises of three staff of African descent and three staff of East Indian descent, with religious diversification.

It was also reported in the letter that at the ministry’s Camp Street, Georgetown Annex, staffers at that branch are being treated differently based on political alignment.

The ministry in response to this claim maintains that any qualified member of the public has access to employment as long as a vacancy exists therein.

“The ministers and their managerial teams all have an open-door policy and all attempts to sow seeds of discord and disunity will continue to be rebuffed,” the release noted.

“The ministry wishes to reinforce government’s position of inclusion and unity and finds it reprehensible that agent provocateurs are seeking to create tension and ethnic division among staff members,” it added.