By Chantalé Fletcher
MORE than half of the contract positions in the Public Utilities Ministry remains vacant.
This according to Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales during the second session of the Standing Finance Committee in Parliament on Tuesday.
The minister revealed that there were 111 contract positions within the ministry of which 65 were filled. He was responding to a query from Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh.
He said, “The Ministry of Public Utilities continues to engage the Public Management Consulting Division (PMCD) with respect to the structure for the ministry and once that process is completed, a lot of the positions that we have categorised as short employment would either be absorbed as full contract employment within the public service.”
He said that the matters of short-term employment was solely dealt with by the PMCD, however if there was any need to engage with the Public Service Association (PSA), guidance would be sort from the CPO (Chief Personnel Officer) office.”
In response to MP for Caroni Central Arnold Ram on the number of vacant positions and whether they were held by existing employees, Gonzales said, “At these times, there were 12 vacant positions outstanding which were done by existing personnel.”
In referring to short-term employment, Gonzales said there was an additional increase in this category from an estimate of $2.2 million in 2021 to a revised estimate $2.8 million.
He added, “There’s a decrease in the allocation for 2022 and that the decrease was in the sum of $306,000 when compared to the allocation for the revised estimates for 2021. However, I suspect the ministry hired some short-term contract employment during the financial year which resulted in the increase.”
Gonzales said, “Advertisements are placed by the permanent secretary and the team at the Ministry of Public Utilities engage the normal recruitment practices for the public service which is through advisement in the national newspapers, social media etc.”
Gonzales also agreed to submit a written document of all the ads placed in the newspapers to account for the spending of $2.8 million for the last financial year.
