It is really disheartening to have to issue a Release of this sort in defense of the Opposition’s representation of Turks and Caicos Islanders in the Civil Service in our pursuit of equal pay. We do so to clear the air after wrongful comments were made by the Attorney General yesterday morning in the House of Assembly.
Much to our dismay and surprise, long after two members of the Opposition had spoken to the recent trend in the Civil Service where there are great disparities in pay between expatriate heads and local qualified heads of Departments, the Attorney General rose on a point of order. Not during the relevant contributions of these members but hours and in one case days after comments were made. As a result of this we believe it prudent to explain the Opposition’s remarks as there is more likely to be new audiences who would have only heard the Attorney General and not the accused members’ contribution.
The PDM Party has since 2005 been calling for equal pay in these Islands and this does not only and should not only be adhered to by the Private Sector. This is nothing new for this Opposition Party to advance and it will always be our fight until there is a meaningful change in this area.
Nonetheless, the Attorney General yesterday in the House of Assembly accused members of the Opposition of breaching sections of the Code of Conduct specifically s 3, 7 and 11 and s16(3) of the Constitution. When forced on a point of Order in accordance to the House’s Standing Orders, he identified s 28(10) which says that “Reference may not be made in debate to the character or conduct of any person except in his official or public capacity.” For those who may not have been listening during the days prior to the Attorney General’s erroneous point of order, misguided interpretation of our motives and serious misleading of the people as to what happened and what was said, we offer the following comments.
THERE WERE NO ATTACKS ON ANYONE’S PERSONAL CHARACTER OR CONDUCT. In fact many of us enjoy cordial relationships with many who come to our shores and with the holders of the posts identified. The Attorney General correctly said that they have just simply taken up an employment offer from the Government and we agree wholeheartedly. These employees did not set their terms of employment and so are not to be blamed for salary disparities and as such ought not be drawn into a criticism levied at the system. We believe that the action of the Attorney General has unfortunately done this.
The Opposition was accused of breaching the Code Of Conduct and we raise no concern on this as the Attorney General was present in the House of Assembly when the Premier during the last Meeting said that the House is not managed by the Code of Conduct. Therefore we choose to say only that we are shocked that he did not advise the Premier as the Government’s adviser then of the relevance of the Code in the House of Assembly when the Opposition raise a point on a possible breach of the said same Code and that he, the Attorney General now seek to identify irrelevant sections of the very same Code and seek to cite breaches made by the Opposition.
Finally, the Hon Attorney also accused the Opposition of breaching s 16(3) of the
Constitution which states “discriminatory” means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions such as by race, national or social origin, political or other opinion, colour, religion, language, creed, association with a national minority, property, sex, sexual orientation, birth or other status whereby persons of one such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description are not made subject or are accorded privileges or advantages which are not accorded to persons of another such description.”
The Opposition has taken the time to respond to this so that the expatriates who have come to our shore are clear on what was discussed and not with the motives attributed to the Opposition by the Attorney General. The Attorney General rose to say that he rose to speak to those who had no voice, and that is what we seek to do. We reiterate that there were no criticisms levied against any expatriate worker in the Civil Service and that the Attorney General is misguided in his thoughts and misleading in his comments. In fact we are on record of representing expatriate workers in the Civil Service as well as in the private sector.
In December 2005, the Leader of the Opposition while on the Forum presented a 45 minute Presentation which highlighted the continuing need of the importation of expatriate workers. The Opposition is not discriminating and will never engage in discriminating against those who come to our shores to help to build our country. What we find interesting is that we believe that it is the people of these Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islanders in the Civil Service who are being discriminated against and we make no apologies for representing our people in the area of the salary disparities.
Hon Sharlene Cartwright Robinson
Leader of the PDM Party/Leader of the Opposition
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