All above board, says Forde

The Cabinet minister in charge of the island’s child protection agency is defending the “contentious” process by which the board has arrived at a new Acting Deputy Director.

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde said this afternoon she is satisfied that the board of the Child Care Board (CCB) did nothing wrong in the way it recently identified the person it recommended to fill the vacant spot.

Forde was responding to complaints by employees of the CCB and their union representative Caswell Franklyn of the Unity Trade Union (UTU) that the Catherine Jordan-led board had sidelined a staff member who was fully qualified and had acted in the post and instead recommended someone who didn’t meet the requirements for the job.

A story published by Barbados TODAY on Thursday, reported that staff was demanding the resignation or removal of the entire board over what they claim was the chairperson’s direct involvement in the daily running of the agency and more particularly, her handling of the filling of the vacant post of Deputy Director.

The disgruntled workers, who were prepared to take industrial action over the matter, had called in Franklyn to represent them.

However, Franklyn said he would not be going the industrial action route just yet, but would first be writing the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs

But in an interview with Barbados TODAY this afternoon, Minister Forde sought to make it clear that she has confidence in the board and as far as she is concerned, the matter of a new Acting Deputy Director is settled unless the union has other ideas.

“I have confidence in the board and its management and if there is something wrong, I would have said to the chairperson up front ‘that is not the road you should have gone’.But once I got the facts and I got them in writing, then fine for me.So I will wait and see what the outcome will be when it comes to the agency in which I have an interest.

“We followed procedure and we understand what has transpired and that is the end of the story as far as I am concerned right now, unless the union comes. I will meet with the union and we will thrash it out and we will agree to disagree and at the end of it, whatever the outcome is, we will abide by it. But as far as I am concerned, everything seems to be in order and above board with regard to the transparency that is necessary,” declared the minister responsible for social services.

Forde pointed out that with due process having been gone through and after the board’s recommendation is submitted to the Permanent Secretary to be sent to her for final sign off, she would do the right thing.

“I understand that due process was pursued and the recommendation that will come from the board will be recognized because the board has gone through all of the phases. All the ministry could do is to sign off on it because we don’t micro manage our state-owned enterprises (SOEs). I don’t believe that you should micro manage either,” she added.

Forde said once a chairman and a board have been identified, they must be given the authority to carry out the stated policies of the ministry and by extension, the government.

Minister Forde also said she could not provide the name of the new Acting Deputy Director until the file from the Permanent Secretary is in front of her.

However, she explained that Colin St Hill, a longstanding senior officer had been approved as the new Acting Director, succeeding Joan Crawford who Forde described as an institution in the child care and protection service in Barbados.

Meanwhile, Franklyn has said he would not be commenting further on the concerns until he has all the facts in writing from the employees.

When contacted Friday evening, Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Wayne Walrond told Barbados TODAY that up to that time, he was not aware that his union, which also has members at the Child Care Board, had been called in to address any grievances at the state agency. (emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)