The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell said Health Minister Renward Wells should do the “honourable thing” and resign.

Mr Wells has come under fire after the Ministry of Health revealed last week that his driver and personal assistant received an honorarium set aside for frontline and non-frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the minister said he asked the two staffers to return the $1,158.40 they each received in honorariums to the government and made it clear he made no recommendations about who should receive the gift.

However, this provided little comfort to the general public. In a release yesterday, Mr Mitchell said he believed returning the funds does not help the issue.

“Health Minister Renward Wells has a serious problem,” he said. “Directing his aides to return more than $1,100 in public funds does not solve the problem, in fact it exacerbates the problem.

“The return of the money is an admission against interest; this means that the Health Minister publicly admitted that with his knowledge and agreement, an improper and unauthorised payment was made with public funds and consequently, there is a course of action which he must now take and only the Prime Minister can save him from the inevitable.

“The rules and conventions in these circumstances are very clear and impatient of debate. Minister Wells – do the honourable thing,” Mr Mitchell said.

The honorarium has been a point of contention since last week when scores of healthcare workers began calling in sick over issues about those workers who had not received it.

However, Mr Wells explained that the people who received an honorarium were recommended by a select committee within the Ministry of Health.

“This committee was to make the decision based on the criteria approved by Cabinet for those who willingly stepped forward during the period 19th March to 18th June, 2020, and for those who later joined the fight in the Ministry of Health,” he said in a statement on Monday. “I shall be taking the list of those who were nominated to receive and yet to receive an honorarium to Cabinet for review to ensure that Cabinet’s intent has been upheld and met as directed.”

The minister explained that to date 308 doctors, 644 nurses, 111 emergency medical services staff and 669 non-clinical staff have received honorariums ranging from about $1,000 to $5,000.

“This group consisted of laboratory technicians, administrative, clerical, transport, security, custodial and other support staff in the Ministry of Health,” he said.