By Alicia Chamely
Immunity comes to an end, warns Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as she welcomes 23 Permanent Secretaries and the Chief Administrator of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).
Delivering a congratulatory address at a special luncheon held at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, on Thursday, Persad-Bissessar reminded the new Permanent Secretaries and by extension all government officials, they were mandated to ensure they followed all legal pathways in the execution of their duties.
Speaking on the importance of a sound relationship between ministers and their permanent secretaries, Persad-Bissessar said, “We really need our PSs to guide us so that we don’t do something that, at the end of the day, is wrong.”
“So even though a minister may come to you and say, ‘I’m going to do X, Y,’ you have the duty, because you have the institutional memory to say, ‘Mr. hold on, stop. You might end up in a courthouse.’ That is the advice we need from you as well-not just administrative but make sure that we are going along the right pathway.”
Persad-Bissessar said there must be mutual trust and respect between a PS and Minister.
Reflecting on a conversation she had recently with her nephew, she said, “He says, ‘you know, when you all are there, you think you have immunity’. So, whilst I’m talking to PSs, I’m talking to our ministers and parliamentary secretaries as well, because that is the relationship we must cultivate together to trust and respect each other. And he says, ‘you know what happens? One day the immunity ends.’”
Persad-Bissessar referred to what had unfolding at the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), Inquiry into the States Acquisition of Pharmaceuticals, where PSs and other Ministry officials had found themselves in hot water.
She said, “So PSs guide them along the proper legal pathway and ensure that they do not get themselves into trouble. And I tell them, ‘I have no intention of going to the courthouse or jail with anybody’.”
“Please do the right thing. Do the right thing. So, your appointments then underscore the importance of certainty and fairness within the public service,” she said.
The newly appointed Permanent Secretaries were:
• Mr. Randall Karim – Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs
• Mr. Ryan Ramcharan – Ministry of the People, Social Development and Family
Services
• Ms. Indira Rampaul-Cheddie – Office of the Attorney General
• Mr. Peter Mitchell – Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government
• Mrs. Simone Williams – Ministry of Education
• Mr. Videsh Maharaj – Ministry of Homeland Security
• Mr. Cory Belfon – Ministry of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence
• Mr. Narine Charran – Ministry of Defence
• Mr. Dexter Jaggernauth – Ministry of Finance
• Ms. Kevar Williams – Office of the Prime Minister
• Ms. Karinsa Tulsie – Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries
• Ms. Michelle Anne Thomas – Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
• Ms. Shanmatee Singh Ng Sang – Ministry of Housing
• Mr. Earland Kent – Office of the Prime Minister
• Mrs. Neela Ram-Atwaroo – Ministry of Public Utilities
• Ms. Beverly Reid-Samuel – Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs
• Mrs. Wendy Guy-Hernandez – Ministry of the People, Social Development and Family
Services
• Mrs. Nela Dwarika-Ali – Ministry of Land and Legal Affairs
• Ms. Abigail Bynoe – Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism
• Mr. Sanjay Singh – Ministry of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development
• Ms. Gwyneth-Ann Morris-Alexander – Ministry of Culture and Community
Development
• Ms. Vashti Maharaj – Ministry of Finance
• Mrs. Aarti Bedassie-Maharaj – Ministry of Planning, Economic Affairs and
Development
Chief Administrator, Tobago House of Assembly
• Ms. Denese Toby-Quashie
