Appointment of Chief Education Officer not within the authority of the Minister

Dear Editor,

I found the utterance from President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Mr Patrick Yarde to the effect that I said I cannot work with the Acting Chief Education Officer, Mrs Genevieve Whyte-Nedd as reported in the Saturday, May 8 edition of the Kaieteur News grossly mischievous, malicious and furthest from the truth.

I want to make it categorically and abundantly clear that at no time did I make such remarks in any meeting with Mr Yarde. It is very unfortunate that Mr Yarde would resort to such a narrow and unprofessional approach to buttress his position on the matter.

I have said on numerous occasions, including in the National Assembly, that appointments to positions within the public service including that of the Chief Education Officer, are not within the authority of the Minister of Education.

It is regrettable that Kaieteur News did not solicit my comments on this matter before the publication of the said article.

Yours faithfully,
Shaik Baksh
Minister of Education