Skerrit Says It’s within His Constitutional Rights to Meet with Public Officers

Barbara 6th July, 2020

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PM Roosevelt Skerrit has declared that he is acting within his constitutional rights as an elected government leader if he meets with civil servants without official representations from their union. He made this point after a caller to his weekly media programme asked if it was proper for him to have a meeting with public officers without their union officials in attendance.

According to the caller, civil servants could be intimidated by the fact that the prime minister is talking to them directly, and that the absence of Public Service Union officials may make any conclusions reached at the meeting lopsided.

PM Skerrit declared that no issues of salaries or any negotiations pertaining to the civil service were discussed at his meeting with public officers, and that the “prime minister is within his constitutional authority to do so [meet with civil servants]. It is not out of bounds for any minister or prime minister to meet with public officers on matters relating to the conditions of work.”

General Secretary of DPSU, Thomas Letang, equally expressed reservations that the prime minister met with civil servants without representation from the union. Letang said it is unfortunate that the prime minister would not want to meet with the DPSU or address its concerns, but would choose to meet with civil servants who are ordinary members of the union.

But Skerrit dismissed the dissents, saying they were politically motivated and that anyone in any country would be happy to sit at an informal meeting with their country’s leader. He said the fact that a prime minister would take the time to meet with public officers should be appreciated and explored to greater advantage. “I had no political motivations [for] meeting public officers,” Skerrit said. “I am certainly going to continue. People write to me about complaints that are sometimes out of my authority and my view is to hear from them and see if I can draw it to the attention of the authorities.”