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Oct 24 - Mena Appointment Shows Lack Of Transparency, Says GSD

The GSD party says it notes “with regret the lengths the Chief Minister is going to in order to shield from public scrutiny the manner in which Mr. Albert Mena was appointed to the powerful constitutional post of Financial Secretary as well as how much Mr. Mena is being paid.”

Mr. Picardo must understand, says the Opposition, that the post of Financial Secretary is not that of an ordinary head of department. He is unique in being responsible for controlling every penny paid into -and paid out of- government coffers. As such, extra care must be taken, says the GSD, to ensure the recruitment process is “both fair and transparent and seen to be fair and transparent.”

The GSD opposition says it is unfortunately unable to say whether the process deployed by Mr. Picardo to recruit his friend and legal partner to the post of Financial Secretary was fair and transparent.

This is because, according to the party, the Chief Minister refuses to divulge any detail relating to how he chose Mr. Mena for the job and how much he is paying Mr. Mena. When asked about it in Parliament, the GSD says that Mr Picardo “fell back on the one-size-fits-all-totally-worn-out excuse of pointing to the appointment of Dilip Dayaram when the GSD was in Government.”

But the GSD argues that, in this case, the Chief Minister is not comparing like with like.

“As we all know, Dilip Dayaram was a career Treasury official - having risen to the post of Accountant General - whereas Mr. Mena is a friend and legal partner of Mr. Picardo with zero public sector experience.”

“It is discourteous in the extreme for Mr. Picardo to say publicly that no civil servant either wanted or was qualified for the job of Financial Secretary. That is simply not true. The Treasury is staffed by amply qualified personnel with years of experience of having worked with Mr. Dayaram and more than capable of replacing him. Has the Chief Minister considered the effect on staff morale of seeing a private sector lawyer curtail the career progression of career civil servants?

“Besides, can Mr. Picardo explain what makes Mr. Mena better qualified at managing public finances than officials who've been doing just that for very many years?

“Mr. Picardo's contention that Mr. Mena's appointment was necessitated by the GSD's lack of succession planning is also a nonsense coming on the back of the assertion that it will take Mr. Mena only 3 years to train successor. Mr. Picardo has already had 3 years in which to ensure an official to replace Mr. Dayaram was properly trained.

“Finally, what is most astonishing of all is that Mr. Picardo should not know or claim to know the terms of Mr Mena's secondment from his law firm. Is Mr Mena being paid directly or is his law firm being indemnified?”

Commenting on the matter, GSD Executive member Rafael Benzaquen said: "Having been a civil service head of department for very many years, I know how important keeping up staff morale is to ensure high productivity.

“I am aware how frustrating it could sometimes be for officials to see a private sector individual dropped into a job career that civil servants could have been working towards, over a long time.

“I am not saying that it's not sometimes necessary. However, the government must come clean with why it's needed here and why it was all so secretive."