It’s a most questionable decision taken by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to appoint Acting Senior Planner in the Planning and Research Unit in the Ministry of Education, Angella Finlay to the important post of Chief Education Officer (CEO) in the Ministry of Education.
THE NEW TODAY cannot see the appointment taking place without the prior approval and knowledge of both Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and his Education Minister, Emmalin Pierre.
This newspaper calls on the members of the PSC including its acting head Prescott Swan and fellow members, Madonna Harford, Delano Viechweg, Ursulla Antoine and Hudson Mc Phail to explain to the nation this controversial appointment at this point in time.
The members of the commission cannot hide behind confidentiality since they are fully aware of the plethora of documents within its own domain about Finlay and her temperament on the job as an Educator over the many years especially at Wesley College.
This newspaper is aware of other matters involving the same Finlay before previous persons serving on the PSC and the paper trail is there for the Prescott Swan Group to familiarise themselves with ,about the many controversies involving the new CEO.
THE NEW TODAY calls on Mr. Swan and company to release the report of an inquiry that was set up on their own instructions to investigate a complaint made by the said Finlay against a Junior Officer in the Ministry of Education whom she alleged physically assaulted her on the job.
There was not a shred of evidence from any of the eyewitnesses to the incident before female attorney-at-law Kinna Marrast who did the investigation that the Junior officer did what Finlay was alleging in a complaint to the said PSC that triggered the probe.
After hearing the evidence of all the main witnesses, another attorney-at-law who served the Government and People of Grenada as a Solicitor-General came out openly in his cross examination and accused Finlay of telling a blatant lie to the same PSC that the Junior Officer had physically assaulted her.
Is the PSC appointing “a liar” to the post of Chief Education Officer in Grenada to help mold the minds of the future leaders of the country? What is the message being sent out by Mr. Swan and the other members of the PSC to the rest of the public service?
The PSC also has a copy of a confidential memo sent to it by former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Finley Jeffrey in which he raised serious concerns about the ability and temperament of Finlay to run a small department of six persons within a unit in the Ministry of Education.
If Finlay, based on the assessment of her own PS cannot run that department then how can the Prescott Swan-led PSC expect this individual to run the entire school system in Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique?
This is what PS Jeffery told Mr. Swan and company on June 1, 2018 about the same Finlay who 15 months later is appointed by the same PSC to the post of Chief Education Officer:
- As Supervisor of the Unit, Mrs. Finlay appears to have demonstrated poor judgment and leadership when, instead of reporting to me what the Junior Officer had told her by way of justification, she allowed herself to become embroiled in a confrontation with the Junior Officer.
- The claim that the Junior Officer physically assaulted Mrs. Finlay cannot be verified.
- Mrs. Finlay’s letter, asking for the Public Service Commission’s intercession was premature, since I was dealing with the issue as she had asked in her letter to me, and she somehow did not see the wisdom of waiting on the outcome.
- Mrs. Finlay’s decision to not occupy her room since the incident occurred, but instead to sit in the waiting room and to share the work spaces of others, has created great unease within the Ministry of Education, has tended to be disruptive and to an observer, it can diminish the image of the Ministry of Education.
- Since the incident, Mrs. Finlay has not been as productive as she could have been. Moreover, as demonstrated by her willful refusal to report at a meeting of Senior Officers, she appears to be belligerent and very defiant.
- It also appears that Mrs. Finlay lacks the social skills required to adequately provide leadership to the staff of the Planning Unit.
One should take careful note of a particular statement made about Mrs. Finlay by PS Jeffrey in which he touched on “her willful refusal to report at a meeting of Senior Officers, she appears to be belligerent and very defiant”.
Is this what is expected of someone to run the office of Chief Education Officer in Grenada? Was there some other reason for the appointment of Finlay to the post of CEO that no one other than the PSC and the Political Directorate of the country might be aware of?
And what makes the decision even more suspicious is the fact that the goodly lady did not even apply for the vacant position of CEO.
This is why it is very imperative for Mr. Swan and company to explain to the nation the rationale for this appointment.
This is good enough reason for the Minister of Education, Emmalin Pierre and the current lot at the PSC to resign for springing onto the nation an individual with such a checkered record and past in the Education system.
The Ministry of Education has been left in turmoil and as one observer said hit by “a hurricane” due to the PSC decision to appoint the controversial Angella Finlay as CEO above more qualified and worthy contenders.