Cabinet Seeks To Reign In Officials Who Make Public Statements On Controversial Issues

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Barbuda Ocean Club

A new procedure has now been adopted for how officials make statements on controversial issues in the public.

The Cabinet says that it listened to a report on Wednesday on the progress being made by the PLH project on Barbuda.

It then determined that all major controversies facing any project shall first come to Cabinet before any official makes his/her findings public.

“The Cabinet is aware that unauthorized and deliberate leaks may be pursued by officials; however, all officials are put on notice that the final arbiter within the law is the Cabinet (reads Minister).”

In recent weeks a number of statements have been made by officials with regards to the controversial PLH project on Barbuda.

Meantime, the government says a stop order was wrongly and unlawfully issued by the Barbuda Council.

It is being viewed as an attempted to usurp the authority of the Development Control Authority.

“Though the request has now gone to the DCA, it cannot proceed with a stop order before consulting with Cabinet,” it was agreed.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. A few years ago Social Security ventured to a certain sand front hotel in the north to conduct an audit, while conducting the audit at the hotel the officers were informed by telephone that they should return to the office immediately. Now this article

    Public sector workers cannot honestly do their jobs and earn their pay. When the minister say you pay syndrome continues lessons have not been learnt.

    No checks and balances in the system that’s why the police and justice system is the way it is because of all the interference. The underprivileged Antiguan sufferation is caused by the Politicians and the Preachers allow it to go unchallenged.

  2. Good for all of them. I want the government to continue applying the squeeze. You made your bed so continue to lie in it.

  3. “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

    ― Elie Wiesel

    “I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.Franois-Marie Arouet (1694 1778)

  5. The Cabinet is now acting like the Politburo in a Communist State. The Cabinet makes the policies and public servants are there to implement those policies or projects . However, when it comes to the making of pronouncements of the implementation of those policies or projects , one would expect that Permanent Secretaries, Technical Officers and other public servants in certain high offices, should be able to come to the public and report on the implementation of polices or projects. For the Cabinet to say , therefore, that all controversies in any project should be reported first to Cabinet for the Cabinet to inform the public, smacks of muzzling public servants in the performance of their duties. I am aware that the archaic Civil Service Regulations require that public servants must first get the permission of the Public Service Commission before they can make public statements, but that requirement is mainly honoured in the breach. That is perhaps because it is such an archaic requirement in a modern, democratic society.

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