New praedial larceny prevention coordinator in place by October
Published:Friday | September 26, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Christopher Serju, Senior Gleaner Writer
THE COUNTRY should have its third praedial larceny prevention coordinator in place by the end of next month, Donovan Stanberry, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, has disclosed.
"We did the interviews and somebody has been selected, but we can't say who as yet because it still has to go to the Services Commission. But it can't go beyond the end of October," Stanberry told The Gleaner.
The country has been without a praedial larceny prevention coordinator since last year December when the ministry opted not renew Reggie Grant's contract. Its delay in appointing a successor had prompted a query from the Cattle Breeders Societies, whose members have been hard hit by theft of their livestock. In a letter dated April 1, the ministry's chief technical director, Dermon Spence, advised that the finance ministry had granted approval for the establishment of a 'praedial larceny unit' which would have the requisite administrative and budgetary support.
To this end, in an advertisement carried in The Sunday Gleaner of July 20, applications were invited for the post of praedial larceny coordinator and not praedial larceny prevention coordinator which Stanberry insisted is the position that should have been advertised.
"It's praedial larceny prevention coordinator," he pointed out then, explaining that the person would be in charge of coordinating islandwide efforts to stem incidents of farm theft and not to promote this illegal activity, as the title in the advertisement suggested.
For a salary of less than $2 million per year ($1,939,599), the successful applicant is required to be the holder of a bachelor's degree in management studies, with economics, sociology, law, criminology or other fields, and10 years experience at a senior level. Public sector and paralegal experience would also be assets.