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Informing The Uninformed....
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STATEMENTS AND CORRESPONDENCES
BY
ELLOY DE FREITAS
Ministry of Industry and
Commerce,
Redcliffe Street, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda.
Personal E-mail:
elloy_de_freitas@hotmail.com
Personal Home Phone: 1(268)561-1263
MINUTE
FROM: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce
TO: Chairman and Members of the Public Service Commission;
(Victorine George-Alexander,
Alfred James,
Alex Thomlinson,
Ineta Wallace,
Pauline Daniel,
Myrna Richardson-Smith, &
Phillip George John);
Chief Establishment Officer;
Secretary to Cabinet;
Minister of Labour, Public Administration, & Empowerment;
Attorney General & Minister of Legal Affairs;
Minister of Finance and the Economy;
Prime Minister.
DATE: 2006 JUL 09
NO: AGP 4053 (Until New File Number Assigned)
THANKS
FOR THE TRANSFER
FROM
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS
TO MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY & COMMERCE
Marching Orders
Issued
I received on 2006JUL07 the following:
(1) At about 11:00 a.m., a phone call from the Chief Establishment Officer (CEO) advising that I had been transferred from the Ministry of Legal Affairs to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce; that the necessary documentation was on its way; that a similar call was being made to the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
(2) Shortly after hanging up the phone from the CEO, a package with both my instrument of termination from the post of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs, effective 2006JUN30 and my instrument of appointment to the post of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, effective 2006JUL01, from the Governor General, which were both signed on 2006JUL06.
No Learning Has Taken Place
Things Move From Bad to Worse
On 2005OCT09, I wrote to the Chairman, Public Service Commission, the Chief Establishment Officer, the Secretary to Cabinet, the Minister of Labour, Public Administration, & Empowerment, the Attorney General, and the Prime Minister as follows:
“Perhaps the Public Service Commission might want to ensure that in future there is a reasonable transition time and process when an officer is asked or instructed to move from one position to another (especially when the said officer is not a felon nor a suspect with diabolic machinations).”
Rather than getting better, things have moved from bad to worse. In 2005 OCT, I was given three (3) calendar days notice before the move. Nine (9) months later, I am told to move seven (7) days after the effective date.
Does this mean that all actions taken by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs during the period 2006JUL01-07 are null and void?
More generically, when will Permanent Secretaries be treated with the professionalism befitting their constitutional roles? The Permanent Secretaries have often been styled as the chief administrative and chief accounting officer in the respective ministries. Sometimes, Permanent Secretaries have been called the public sector equivalent of the Chief Executive Officer in the private sector. Such grandiose names and roles, but in reality paid as paupers and treated with shoddy disrespect; not even a reasonable transition time and process being in place!
I expect better. I demand better. I am holding the Public Service Commission to the highest standards of performance and professional conduct. I am adamant on this matter, since, according to the Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda, the Public Service Commission is responsible for ensuring the highest standards of performance and professional conduct by the public officers. We must lead by example.
Secret Thoughts, Words, & Deeds Will Become Public Knowledge.
Will They Withstand the Scrutiny of the Light?
All the thoughts, words, and deeds related to my transfer will one day become public knowledge. Will they withstand the scrutiny of the light? Will they prove to be fair and right?
I know for a fact that these sudden transfers are not motivated by reasons of performance excellence; they are blatantly counter productive. And the supposedly great “secrecy” surrounding this administrative decision is totally unnecessary and in fact is no real secret. It’s simply an illusion or more correctly a delusion.
This Transfer Is Best For Me
Unfortunately, there are some who might be gloating about their “conquest”; thinking they have gotten the better of me; they have done-me-in; they have got rid of me; they have punished me; they have hurt me. Too bad, none of the above is correct. This transfer out of the Ministry of Legal Affairs is best for me. It could not come at a better time. I was just about to request it myself. GOD is great!
If all the parties concerned had only taken the time and done the reasonable thing to evaluate all the facts and circumstances over the last nine (9) months we would have all seen the wisdom of transferring me from the Ministry of Legal Affairs without any need for secrecy and suddenness.
Thanks For the Transfer
Thank you GOD. Thank you man and woman. I am sorry about all the unfinished improvements we had been working on at the Ministry of Legal Affairs; however, the good relationships established can follow us anywhere we go, and I am happy about that.
I look forward to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, with mandate, position, staff, and other resources already in place (circumstances I did not have the good fortune to meet with both as Director of the Office of Public Sector Transformation and as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs).
Same Swiftness For My Transfer;
Same Swiftness For My Promotion Benefits!
Another reason I am so delighted about this transfer from the Ministry of Legal Affairs is that it proves that some things can be done quickly within the public service. Look how quickly all the organs of government and individual public officers have worked to effect my swift transfer from the Ministry of Legal Affairs! Accordingly, I am now expecting the same swiftness in getting my promotion benefits and I will be intensifying my public demonstrations and actions to get my promotion benefits paid swiftly.
I will forever be repeating, “In all things, let JAH be praised!”
………………………………………..
Elloy de Freitas
Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Industry and Commerce
c.c. Secretary, Public Service Commission;
All Media Outfits in Antigua and Barbuda.
FROM: Elloy de Freitas, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs
TO: All Media Outfits In Antigua and Barbuda
C.C.: Chairman and Members of the Public Service Commission (Victorine George-Alexander, Alfred James, Alex Thomlinson, Ineta Wallace, Pauline Daniel, Myrna Richardson-Smith, & Phillip George John);
Chief Establishment Officer;
Secretary to Cabinet;
Solicitor General;
Attorney General;
Minister of Labour, Public Administration, & Empowerment;
Minister of Finance;
Prime Minister.
DATE: 2006 JUN 15
REF. NO.: AG 4053
SUBJECT: Invitation to Press Conference;
TUE 2006JUN27; 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.;
Conference Room, City View Hotel, Newgate Street, St. John’s, Antigua;
You are cordially invited to participate in a press conference convened by Elloy de Freitas, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs. This press conference will take place on TUE 2006JUN27; from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.; at the Conference Room of the City View Hotel, Newgate Street, St. John’s, Antigua.
The theme of the press conference will be ending some 16 years of punishment (1990-2006). The point will be made that half-way is not good enough; my appointment to the post of Permanent Secretary (effected 2005JUL17) must be followed by the payment of my promotion benefits.
I will recap the process of my appointment to the post of Permanent Secretary as a consequence of my protest action in 2005JUL. The document “Public Appeal”, dated 2005JUL13, is re-circulated for ease of reference.
Furthermore, I will outline the role played or not played by the key public officials amidst my persistent pleas for justice and closure.
Finally, I will focus on the performance of the Public Service Commission with reference to the conclusion of the matter of my promotion benefits.
Thank you in anticipation of the promotion and coverage of this press conference and your participation in this important process of affirming the right to expression and association and getting the timely meting out of justice.
………………………………………
Elloy de Freitas
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs
PUBLIC APPEAL FOR JUSTICE AND CLOSURE:
APPOINT ME ON PROMOTION NOW & PAY ME MY PROMOTION BENEFITS!
By Elloy de Freitas
The Privy Council ruled (1998JUN30) that my interdiction (suspension as the first step towards eventual dismissal) of 1990OCT03 was unjust and that I should be immediately re-instated to my civil service job. My right to freedom of expression and association under the Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda was upheld.
The then Minister of Agriculture, Hilroy Humphreys, and many other senior public officers, politicians, and even trade unionists, nationally, regionally, and internationally were proved wrong. Contrary to their beliefs, the Privy Council upheld the judgment of the High Court (and then Justice Redhead) that a civil servant could indeed picket against and join with others to picket against his/her “own” Minister so long as such picket, expression of opinion or association with others did not negatively impact the performance of the day-to-day duties of the said civil servant.
INJUSTICE SHOULD HAVE ENDED ON 1998JUN30
This judgment of the Privy Council (1998JUN30) that I return to work was to have ended eight years of unjust punishment; unjust denial of promotion opportunities; unjust damage to my reputation and career prospects; unjust trauma to my wife and daughter, my family and personal friends and myself. The injustice should have ended on 1998JUN30, but it did not.
PSC AGREES TO CORRECT DISADVANTAGE
By letter to the PSC dated 2000AUG13, with reference to a meeting (THU 1999APR08) with the Public Service Commission, I wrote as follows:
“The
PSC was explicit and emphatic that I should not forfeit any of my employment
benefits including promotion opportunities.
I shared with the PSC many instances of persons who had been promoted
ahead of me during the period of my interdiction (e.g. Director of Agriculture)
and the upgrading of several posts in the Ministry of Agriculture (e.g. Chief
Surveyor, Chief Lands Officer, Chief Fisheries Officer, etc.) to the
disadvantage of mine (Extension Officer). I
left the meeting with the assurance that the PSC would expeditiously correct
this disadvantage by upgrading my post to the status of a “Chief” with
equivalent benefits to the Director of Agriculture or place me in another
position with equivalent benefits with effect from the same date that the
current holder of the post of Director of Agriculture was appointed.”
ACTING APPOITMENT MADE BUT ONLY FROM 2003DEC01
With effect from 2003DEC01, the Governor General, on the advice of the PSC with the concurrence of the Prime Minister, issued my instrument of appointment to act in the post of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, on secondment to the position of Director, Public Sector Reform.
GESTURE OF HONORARIUM FOR THE “LOST YEARS”
By letter dated 2003DEC02, I wrote to the PSC as follows:
“On
the basis of my discussions with the Chief Establishment Officer (01DEC2003) and
the documentation shared with me, kindly accept my deepest appreciation for
opting to resolve the issue of my promotion benefits by way of the appointment
to the post of Director, Public Sector Reform.
Please convey my thanks to all the members of the Public Service
Commission (PSC) and all the advisors and other persons who helped in reaching
this decision. This appointment is relevant, important, and challenging.
These sentiments are also shared by my wife and daughter.
When
I met with the PSC on 20AUG2003, I indicated that it would be impossible to make
up for all the opportunities I had missed out on during the period when I was
not considered for promotion. However,
I expected that, as a minimum, the PSC would have made my appointment effective
as of JUL1998, when I first drew these matters to the attention of the PSC.
Alternatively, I expected to have my promotion with effect from
09APR1999, when I actually met with the PSC and received the assurance that I
would not forfeit any of my promotion rights.
I
am aware of many of the difficulties associated with retroactive appointments.
However, I feel that we could work out some alternative creative
solutions. While we might have to
live with the appointment date of 01DEC2003, there is still room to work out
some gesture reflective of our shared feeling that something is warranted for
the “lost years”. For example,
an honorarium could be paid equivalent to the difference in salary between my
new post and my former post for the period 09APR1999 to 30NOV2003.
Please
indicate the views of the PSC on this matter of the payment of a sum of money in
lieu of the “lost years” of promotion benefits.
I leave this matter in the hands of the PSC and the Almighty.
Once
again, on behalf of my family and myself, thanks for bringing closure to this
long saga”.
JUSTICE & CLOSURE CONTINUE TO BE DELAYED
At last I would now get justice and closure, so I thought and hoped.
By letter to the PSC dated 2004DEC13, I wrote as follows:
“More than a year has passed since I
received my instrument from the Governor General to act in the vacant post of
Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Industry and Commerce, on secondment to
the Establishment Department as Director, Public Sector Reform, (PSR).
By its decision dated 27JUL2004, Cabinet
decided to change the name of the post from Director, PSR, to Director, The
Office of Public Sector Transformation (TOPS), and to transfer TOPS from the
Establishment Department to the Prime Minister’s Ministry, Office of the Prime
Minister (OPM), with effect from 01MAY2004.
I would like the appropriate steps to be
taken so that I could be appointed to the post of Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of Industry and Commerce, on secondment to the Office of the Prime Minister, as
Director of TOPS.
This action would also free up the
situation at the Agricultural Extension Division, where I am told, no
appointment can be made to the Post of Extension Officer, until I move from an
acting position of PS and become appointed to a vacant post.”
GET SERIOUS: JUSTICE & CLOSURE AT TOP OF WORK AGENDA
By letter dated 2005JAN31 to
the Chief Establishment Officer (CEO), I wrote as follows:
“Thank
you for a most useful meeting on THU 2005JAN20.
As per the directive of the Chairman, Public Service Commission, the
following three issues (appointment to post; free local telephone; and promotion
benefits) were dealt with.
It
is my understanding that within a matter of about two weeks (I am using the date
of FRI 2005FEB04 as an appropriate deadline date) you would have definitive
action on the matter of the appointment to the post in which I have been acting
for more than one year.
It
is also my understanding that on being appointed to the post, the issue of the
free local telephone would then be dealt with.
Furthermore,
within a matter of about two weeks (again I am using the date of FRI 2005FEB04
as an appropriate deadline date) you would have definitive action on the matter
of my promotion benefit. I remain
puzzled as to why Cabinet would want legal opinion on an issue that went to them
after the Public Service Commission sort and obtained legal opinion in the first
place. Nonetheless, I remain
confident that this matter would be speedily resolved.
These
three issues are now at the top of my work agenda.”
MORE TIME ROLLS BY
Following a period of
vacation leave from 2005MAR17 to 2005MAY30, I met separately and sequentially
with the Minister of Labour, Public Administration, and Empowerment (2005JUN01),
the Chief Establishment Officer (2005JUN02), and the Attorney General
(2005JUN06) to indicate that I was serious about getting my appointment and
promotion benefits.
WARNING OF PENDING PROTEST
ON THE STREET
Approximately one month
later (2005JUL04) having not heard anything further, I wrote to the Chairman,
Public Service Commission, the Secretary to Cabinet, the Chief Establishment
Officer, the Solicitor General, the Attorney General, the Minister of Labour,
Public Administration, & Empowerment, the Minister of Finance, and the Prime
Minister as follows:
APPOINTMENT NOW! PROMOTION BENEFITS NOW!
REQUEST FOR COPY OF CEO DOCUMENT;
MEMO #5 (DATES OF OTHERS: 2005APR12;
2005FEB15; 2005JAN31; 2004DEC13;).
It has been told to me that while every
other Permanent Secretary received new instruments of appointment subsequent to
the 2005 Cabinet Reshuffle, I did not receive mine because of an
“oversight”. I also have no
official documentation to the effect that TOPS now falls within the
Establishment Department; but I have been told so.
This is my fifth memo on this matter (the
others were dated 2005APR12; 2005FEB15; 2005JAN31; and 2004DEC13).
I would like to get a copy of the
document prepared by the Chief Establishment Officer which outlines the exact
terms of the proposed solution to the matter of my appointment and my promotion
benefits. To date, I do not know
exactly what has been proposed.
I
continue to “occupy” three positions but have been prevented from performing
excellently because I have no mandate, no authority to incur expenditure,
inadequate staff, & I lack other resources required for the transformation
process.
I
would like to be appointed as Permanent Secretary, Industry and Trade,
immediately. I would like to
immediately receive my promotion benefits.
If quick, constructive, solution-oriented decisions and actions are not
taken by you, I am hereby giving you notice that I will take my protest to the
street from MON 2005JUL11”.
PUBLIC PROTEST STARTS &
SOME INTERESTING FACTS
And so the protest is now on the street. There are some interesting facts which suggest that this matter should have been amicably settled long ago. These facts show that many of the members of the current political directorate have intimate knowledge of the history of this plea for justice and closure.
First, Sen. Lenworth Johnson, when he was Secretary of the precursor organization to UPP, the UNDP, wrote to me in 1990/91 indicating that the UNDP was 100% behind me; he is now a member of the current political directorate and could translate the “100% behind me” idea into justice and closure.
Second, the Attorney General, Hon. Justin Simon, was the Junior Council who appeared with Senior Counsel, Sydney Christian QC, on my behalf at the Privy Council in London; to his eternal credit, while other lawyers failed to come to my call for help, Justin Simon volunteered to appear on my behalf without any charges to me; Justin Simon is now in a position to bring justice and closure to this matter.
Third, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Harold Lovell, as a solicitor within the office of Sydney Christian, was the person who broke the news about the Privy Council judgment in my favour in July 1998; he is now a member of the current political directorate and could give effect to the consequences of this Privy Council judgment for justice and closure.
Fourth, Prime Minister, Hon. Baldwin Spencer, Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Wilmoth Daniel, among others, joined the then ABPSA President, Caleb Benjamin, and myself (November, 1990) in picket action outside of the Ministry of Agriculture to end the unjust interdiction; both Baldwin Spencer and Wilmoth Daniel, now the most senior members of the political directorate are in a position to provide justice and closure to this matter.
Given these facts, why do I have to resort to public protest and public appeal to get justice and closure?
All who have ears to hear and eyes to see and knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, I am now making a public appeal for justice and closure; for my appointment on promotion now; for my consequent promotion benefits to be paid now.