The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Minnis administration intends to appoint an estimated 6,200 persons across 108 government boards in the coming weeks, Free National Movement chairman Sidney Collie revealed yesterday.

In an interview with The Tribune on Monday, Mr Collie, a member of the administration’s transition team, said the party had concluded the partial selection of 17 of the 108 boards, with a view to finalising the list in the coming days.

“We on the transition team are well on our way, but I continue to call for patience because these are very important decisions that take some time to complete,” Mr Collie said.

“Our job is not to select and appoint completed boards, rather, we are tasked with putting together partial lists of names for each board, which will then be passed on to the Cabinet for review, completion and approval.

“Our transition team is trying to go through every aspect of these boards and assure that we are not only choosing the good people, but selecting persons that could really improve their respective areas once appointed,” he continued.

Party sources have maintained that the party wants to have “most, if not all” boards filled and working by July 3, the first business day of the new fiscal year.

According to Mr Collie, there are five distinct classification of boards, the first three of which will be comprised of paid members.

These three classifications of boards are structured with a wage scale that varies from one classification to the other.

When asked to further clarify those wage scales, Mr Collie said he would be unable to do so at the moment because he was not in possession of the documents that referred to that aspect.

The remaining two classifications of boards will be composed of non-paid members.

The FNM’s six-member transition team is made up of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest, Attorney General Carl Bethel, former parliamentarian Cornelius A Smith and former Ambassador to the United States Joshua Sears.

In 2012, the former Christie administration announced its full appointments to statutory boards and committees in early July after the May general election. However, former Prime Minister Perry Christie was criticised for failing to appoint people to boards in time for the start of that fiscal year, July 1.

PLP chairman Bradley Roberts noted at the time that the former Ingraham administration appointed people to statutory boards on July 8, 2007, and that some board appointments were made prior to that date.