The People's National Party is questioning the appointment of Mrs. Marcia Forbes as the new Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mining and Telecoms.

The Party is asking whether established processes and procedures for the appointment of permanent secretaries were followed.

1) Was the position advertised?

2) How many persons were short listed and when were interviews done?

3) What are the qualifications and experience requirements for a Permanent Secretary?

4) What are the requisite experience and qualifications of Mrs. Forbes?

It has never been the practice of successive administrations to appoint known political activists to positions of this nature. Mrs. Forbes played a key leadership role in managing the media affairs for the Jamaica Labour Party during the last general election campaign.

The PNP is disturbed at the growing trend of this JLP administration to appoint known political activists to sensitive public sector positions, who neither possess the experience nor the qualifications for the posts and where established guidelines are circumvented.

The appointments of Sonia Christie as the Executive Director of the Social Development Commission and Joan Gordon Webley as the Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority are cases in point.

Contact:
Michael Peart