Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling issued a response (see related story) to Member of Parliament (MP) for Nation Opportunity Wealth (NOW) Lydon Lewis. As reported in Tuesday’s newspaper, the latter announced having submitted a letter with 50 questions to her on -among other things- the appointment of Police Chief Carl John as acting Secretary-General at the ministry, which he considers a serious conflict-of-interest.
Despite not having received these yet, Tackling, who represents Soualiga Action Movement (SAM), argued that because the narrative being advanced in public right now is wrong, a few things need to be said straight away.
According to her, it doesn’t regard an appointment to a separate post, but just a temporary stand-in arrangement regulated by law to ensure continuity of the ministry when the secretary-general is absent or unavailable. It is not a job vacancy that gets posted, advertised or filled through a recruitment process.
The minister added that a conflict of interest arises when someone ends up in a position to supervise themselves, or to check their own work, or to make decisions about their own pay, promotion or discipline, which is not the situation here, and it never has been. The police chief does not report to the secretary-general, but the Police answers to but answers to the minister for operational policing matters.
“For years, and under several different governments, the role of acting secretary-general has been filled by whichever service head within the ministry made sense at the time. Under Minister Kirindongo, the Chief of Police filled it. Under Minister Anna Richardson, the role rotated among multiple service heads over the course of her tenure. For a long stretch spanning multiple administrations, including during MP Lewis’ own tenure as Minister of Justice, the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit filled it,” Tackling stated.
In hindsight, although her explanation seems plausible enough, seeing the very public and a sensitive nature of John’s main function, a release informing people of the move up front might not have hurt in this situation. Especially since the minister claims to be big on openness and transparency, that may be worth considering the next time around.
