RTC News received a letter from the Turks & Caicos Islands Civil Service Association that reads:
Dear Editor,
The new Public Service (Delegation of Powers) Regulations 2011 comes into force on February 4, 2011. Under these new regulations the final decision (save for an appeals process) for the employment, discipline or termination of public officers now rests with the Chief Executive instead of the Governor.
The Civil Service Association (CSA) views this decision to transfer such powers from the Governor to the Chief Executive as retrogressive.
The recently commenced Civil Service Reform with the intention to “right size” or make redundant an unknown number of Civil Servants is a priority objective of the present Administration. During this process of Civil Service Reform the possibility exists that Civil
Servants may be treated unfairly with respect to decisions of discipline or termination. The Chief Executive straddles the boundaries from operations within the Office of Public Service Management (Executive Office of the Public Service Commission) to policy and executive decisions within the office of the Governor. This situation is conducive to conflict of interest, as the Chief Executive is directly involved with the day to day operations of the Public Service and may himself be directly involved in situations concerning misconduct or non‐performance of a public officer. It is therefore unlikely that such individuals being disciplined or terminated will receive the benefit of justice due to conflict of interest in the final decision making process which now will rest with the Chief Executive.
The CSA is extremely disappointed with this decision of delegation of powers to the Chief Executive and is calling on the Administration to reverse its position as we enter this period of Civil Service Reform.
Turks and Caicos Islands Civil Service Association
Management Council
