Jamaica Gleaner News - Mercy denied - Thursday

PARLIAMENT'S PUBLIC Accounts Committee (PAC) was on Tuesday asked to extend mercy or hand down judgement in a vexed issue involving staff of the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC). The committee deliberated and at the end, judgement prevailed after the PAC ruled against mercy.

Chief executive officer of the CPTC, Angela Patterson, made an impassioned plea on behalf of 14 employees of the agency who were overpaid after receiving increased salaries for performing additional duties following a redundancy exercise in 2003.

Management at the agency had taken the decision to hike their wages without approval from the Ministry of Finance.

The Auditor General's Department advised the PAC that the CPTC employees received emoluments above the approved salary scale for the period April 2006 to December 2008.

Effect on staff morale

Both the Auditor General's Department and the Ministry of Finance recommended that the additional payments, totalling $1,042,728, be recovered from the staff.

Patterson did not relent as she sought to convince the PAC members to consider the plight of the workers who were paid at the lowest scale at the agency. She said recovery of the sums would have a debilitating effect on staff morale.

"We really are throwing ourselves at the mercy of the Ministry of Finance to make the approval retroactive to April 2006 so that the problem can be eliminated," she said.

Forgiveness recommend

Central Kingston Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites rushed to make intercession on behalf of the CPTC workers, encouraging his colleagues to recommend forgiveness in this instance.

Committee member Andrew Gallimore disagreed with Thwaites, warning his colleagues not to support a write-off of the overpaid sums, as this could set a precedent in the public sector.

However, Thwaites insisted that the employees should not be blamed for being paid additional sums for work done.

"None of us are saying that the proper procedure should not be followed. I am saying you don't visit the consequences of those mistakes upon those who were not responsible at all," he said.

"Mercy triumphs over judgement. He (Gallimore) is for judgement; I am for mercy," Thwaites charged.

But at the end of the deliberations, the majority of committee members supported the finance ministry's proposal to recover the more than $1 million in overpayment.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com