– Legal action being pursued“Since our last discussion on the case of Mrs. Genevieve Whyte-Nedd and the conduct of the Public Service Commission, our disappointment continues at the failure of the lady to be appointed to the position of Chief Education Office,” said President of the Guyana Public Service Union, Patrick Yarde, at a press conference at the Union’s Regent Street Headquarters yesterday.The topics that were highlighted at the press conference were the appointment of Mrs. Genevieve Whyte-Nedd as Chief Education Officer, Public Service Commission, procrastination in filling the vacancy of Chief Education Officer which Mrs. Whyte-Nedd has been acting in excess of four years and a half years, non-appointment of the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, and the calls for the Government of Guyana to rescind Circular # 12 of 2009: Increase in Salaries and Wages – 2009.According to GPSU President, Patrick Yarde, the non-appointment of Mrs. Genevieve Whyte-Nedd has been raised with the Public Service Commission through its Chairman.The next meeting of this Commission is scheduled to be held on July 7, 2010, and there is the expectation that the matter could be resolved before the end of the life of the Commission.Yarde said that Ms Whyte-Nedd is set to retire this year end, and while the post is advertised although she is the most qualified person, notwithstanding the position is still vacant, she has not been appointed to the substantive position of Chief Education Officer.The GPSU President explained that the Public Service Commission is appointed for three years.“They seem to be going out of office and it is not going to be addressed, we are now fortified in our position that this matter is only likely to be resolved by resort to the Judiciary.”According to the GPSU President, the membership of the Public Service Commission, which results in the exclusion of the nominees of the Guyana Public Service Union, (the only Union that is recognised to represent workers appointed by the Public Service Commission) from membership of the Commission as was traditionally the case. The result has clearly been the establishment of a Commission, clearly susceptible to political influence and control.He stated that upon speaking to the Minister of Education, it was revealed that the Minister said that “he could not work with Ms Whyte-Nedd and that was the fly in the ointment.”And nobody wanted to deal with the matter to act in conflict with the Minister’s position.The GPSU President revealed that if Whyte-Nedd is not appointed and there is no redress she will lose substantially because a position has to be occupied substantively for three years before superannuation benefits and gratuity can be received. “However she is due to retire this year.”“They have not had the opportunity to accuse her of any shortcoming or any wrongdoing; they are trying to drag it out until she reaches the age of retirement and let her go out of office.”Patrick Yarde noted the absence of the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, which has been constitutionally established in pursuance of the principle and is designed to provide a forum of appeal against decisions of the Public Service Commission.However, with the resignation and subsequent death of Mr. George Fung-on as a member of the Tribunal, since 2004, the status, position and functioning of the Tribunal has been rendered nugatory by the failure of the government to, inter alia, reconstitute and reappoint the Tribunal, notwithstanding numerous letters addressed to the President of Guyana, commencing from February 3,Cheap China Jerseys, 2004 and ending with one on April 26, 2010, by the President/ CEO of the Guyana Public Service Union.He explained many letters were sent to the President to discharge his constitutional obligation to reconstitute the Tribunal, since the tribunal is very hard to corrupt. The Appellate Tribunal comprised of a chairman who was a retired Appellate Court Judge, and two wing members—one a government nominee and the other a GPSU nominee.“This is deliberate, to remove the right of redress at the banality of the Public Service Commission” and results in the public servant to seek redress in the Judiciary which is lengthy and expensive.The GPSU President regarded the unsatisfactory state of affairs as a matter of contempt for the Union and its members in particular, and the Guyanese nation, in general.He stated, clearly, that two features are part of the appointment of public officials, politics and race, in addition to executive lawlessness.
