The Tribune

THE promise from the PLP in their campaign slogan was clear: A New Day.

Things aren’t looking quite so new in practice. A number of familiar faces from the previous Christie administration have already reappeared – Jerome Fitzgerald, for example, finding a home for his political garbage can be seen as an advisor in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit.

And now Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ Cabinet has decided to allow retirees who have been rehired by the government to receive both their salary and their pension.

Two retired civil servants have already been brought back onto the wage bill, David Davis and Harcourt Brown, who will work in the Office of the Prime Minister.

There are obvious cost implications for this. As former Public Service and National Insurance Minister Brensil Rolle points out, if you have someone with a salary of $80,000 who retires and is then brought back, are you suddenly going to be paying them $150,000 for doing the same job?

At a time when the public purse is under pressure, that’s certainly one consideration. But as Mr Rolle points out, there is another – perhaps a bigger question.

“The second part of that,” he says, “is what it does to individuals who are aspiring to become the permanent secretary who are working and perhaps doing a good job. Now their opportunity is blocked.”

In what we hope is not to become a characteristic attempt to muddy the waters, the new administration said that some retirees under the Minnis administration also received both a pension and salary.

That doesn’t address the question of whether it is right or wrong, just points a finger and says look, they did it too.

There sometimes seems to be a wall for young people trying to make their way in their careers. Is there really no one else who could do these roles, so retired civil servants had to be dusted off and brought back to the office?

As the president of the Torchbearers Youth Association, the FNM’s youth arm, said: “Scores of young people could be hired with the money the PLP will now give to the double-dipping, retired civil servants. Additionally, this practice will harm morale and hamstring the career advancement and succession planning within the civil service.”

A retiree brought in as permanent secretary blocks the next person in line for that post. That person doesn’t move up and blocks the next deputy. And on and on down the line.

Meanwhile, a source in the PLP says that people are up in arms over a delay in “rewards” for party supporters after the election.

“Every decent and deserving PLP was promised board positions and other jobs,” said the source, adding: “Word is out there that our leaders are being sympathetic towards FNMs and don’t want to let them go and that’s what is stalling us being placed where we were promised. Naturally we are not happy about this as the FNM showed no mercy to us when they came into office in 2017. There is a lot of quarreling going on and some MPs just decided to turn off their phones to avoid us. Well, five years go by quickly. They will need us.”

Is this how our government should work? On promises of jobs for the boys, and political favours for the favoured?

We cannot even pretend to be a society where people earn their place on merit if this is the state of our nation.

PLP chairman Fred Mitchell, of course, denies any such claims of infighting over appointments. The PLP source said supporters are willing to give party leaders a week to get affairs in order. The next week should make for interesting viewing indeed. Watch this space.