Opposition Leader Keith Rowley is intensifying a campaign of misinformation by deliberately misrepresenting issues surrounding the President’s housing, Communications Minister Vasant Bharath says. Bharath yesterday condemned statements by Rowley, who has accused the Government of “deception’” over the President’s housing allowance. Speaking at last Sunday’s PNM convention, Rowley said it was “deception, like how they would have you believe that they did not know that the President was receiving a hefty housing allowance whilst having a suite of accommodation available to him, until the media broke the story. This matter was raised in a Housing Committee meeting in the presence of the Government since last year and the Government simply chose to look the other way. Now we have the Attorney General telling us that the Chief Personnel Officer is independent and the Government is helpless. “That wasn’t so with the five per cent edict and we wait to see who will guide the next Public Service negotiations. You simply can’t trust them with anything they tell you"
But Bharath said,“What Dr Rowley has demonstrated, for yet another time, is that nothing he says can be trusted. Nothing he says can be taken seriously. He has taken an issue that is clear in the facts and very clear in the legislative provisions, and is making every effort to confuse and mislead the population. “The issue is clear. The Chief Personnel Officer is secretary of the Salaries Review Commission (SRC). The line minister for the Personnel Department is the Minister of Public Administration, and the Minister of Finance and the Economy also has a line responsibility.”
Bharath’s view was: “As with all ministries where permanent secretaries take guidance from ministers, but remain the accounting officers, the Chief Personnel Officer remains the Public Service executive with the final decision making authority on these issues. “In addition, the Chief Personnel Officer has made clear that she was well within her right and role to have made her decision and at no point was instructed by either of her line ministers. “If Dr Rowley is seeking to raise a discussion on the functioning of the Public Service, then he must be prudent and responsible in his public pronouncements. But in any event, the PNM leader must have the fortitude to demonstrate leadership and commit to the facts, rather than attempt to build a political campaign on skewed information. “The CPO has, in her report on the issue to the Prime Minister, stood by her decision on the allowance. The CPO is secretary to the Salaries Review Commission (SRC), which made the recommendations regarding allowances and similar concessions, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan says the SRC, headed by Edward Collier, has a duty to clarify the issue, since he said the CPO, as secretary to the SRC, cannot, of her own volition, make a decision on the allowance, which was a matter for the SRC alone. He contended the CPO is not an SRC member. He said Collier’s silence has the potential to bring the office of the CPO and the President into disrepute. Collier has consistently declined comment. Ramlogan said he turned the issue over to the Solicitor General for advice only last week and is awaiting the advice. Public Service head Reynold Cooper said he couldn’t answer on whether the CPO, the Salaries Review Commission or the President should be the one to clarify the matter.