Erica Virtue, staff reporterPermanent Secretaries, the accountable head of all ministries, are sometimes accused of failing to stand up to Ministers. However, one retired Permanent Secretary said that the society was stupid if it believed that any Permanent Secretary could oppose any minister and still keep his/her job.
"Report who? To where?" asked one highly-placed former Permanent Secretary who required anonymity.
She said, "Any Permanent Secretary who follow that rubbish instruction from Dr. Carlton Davis (head of the Civil Service) that if they objected they should send a memo to him, about a minister or anything that is happening in the ministry, they are history."
She asked, "Do you know how many persons are sitting in some offices in 'whoiee woh', with a desk and chair doing crossword puzzles? Neither this Government nor the past one is blameless. Everyone of them has used and abused Permanent Secretaries and civil servants, because they are unwilling to do their dirty work."
But according to Ken Chaplain, former press secretary to Prime Ministers Hugh Lawson Shearer, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga and P. J. Patterson, Permanent Secretaries often "give in" too easily to the Ministers.
In an interview last week, Mr. Chaplain said, Permanent Secretaries are the "accountable and administrative heads of the ministries, while the minister is the executive head".
Permanent Secretaries are answerable to the ministers, he said, but under the Financial Administration Act, "They are the accounting officers. They cannot be told to approve anything that is irregular and not in keeping with the Financial Administration Act." He believes that many of today's Permanent Secretaries have not been firm enough with the ministers, noting that "some in the 1960s and 70s stood their ground in the face of meddling from ministers."
Mr. Chaplain's sentiments have been supported by former Commissioner of Police, Trevor MacMillan.
"I don't believe many have stood up to the ministers for one reason or the other," he said on Friday.
According to him, while serving as Commissioner between 1993 and 1996, he sought guidance on policy from then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security and Justice, Elaine Baker. He did not get it and was directed to the Minister.
He said, "They are not strong enough, and not firm enough when dealing with ministers."
He also endorsed Anthony Irons as one of the finest Permanent Secretaries in recent times and wished there were others like him.
But the highly-placed former Permanent Secretary said last week, a number of Permanent Secretaries had been kicked out of the system, but that had not made the front pages of the newspapers or radio news.
She said one of the ways of fading them out of the system is to "make them secretary of boards or commissions and then they just quietly fade away."
According to her, Dr. Carlton Davis, who is chairman of the Permanent Secretary's board is nothing more than a figure head, "wanting us to send memo to him, while at the same time, he is the Cabinet Secretary. Does that make sense to you?"
Dr. Davis could not be contacted for comments on Friday or yesterday when The Sunday Gleaner tried to reach him.
The retired Permanent Secretary said the political football game involving Permanent Secretaries and other senior civil servants started long before the 1980s.
But according to her, when the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) took power, they refused to work with at least three Permanent Secretaries. Easton Douglas and Clovis MacLean in the same Housing Ministry were two of the three, she said.
She said the political interference is often not without merit, as Mr. Douglas later became a People's National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament. She said, however, that the JLP is currently benefiting from partisanship, as Joseph Shako, who was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, is now a candidate for the party.
Ron Brown was made to leave his job as Permanent Secretary while serving under Horace Clarke who was then Minister of Mining.
But others have stood firm.
Sonia Jackson, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Environment was fired by former Minister Easton Douglas in 1999.
Colleagues of Mrs. Jackson, described her as a bright, hardworking and effective boss when she was head at National Housing Corporation, before it was merged with Caribbean Housing Finance Corporation to become the ill-fated NHDC.
Sources at the Ministry at the time said Mrs. Jackson is known to have opposed the former Minister on a number of issues.
"It is her right to do so, but he did not like it one bit. So, he refused to work with her, and as a result of his sulk, she was somewhere relaxing for nearly a year, on full salary just because she would not massage his ego," another retired Permanent Secretary who did not want to be named said.
Other Permanent Secretaries seen as "upfront", are Grace Allen-Young in the Ministry of Health and Dr. Alwyn Hayles at the Ministry of Transportation and Works.
Both Mr. Chaplain and Colonel MacMillan have pointed to Gordon Wells, who later became Contractor-General, Ashton Wright, Derrick Dyer, Claire Kean, Lloyd Collins and Ron Brown as outstanding Permanent Secretaries.
But others are not so kindly regarded. In that group is Shirley Tyndall, Financial Secretary.
Some officials in that ministry call her name with trepidation. But there are others who say, "Give her her due, she runs that ministry."
