Dear Editor,
For persons and institutions who may be interested in learning further of the regional administration, the following information may just be helpful.
Stabroek News of April 26, 2012, for the first time published the salary of the Regional Executive Officer as $247,526-which may have given the impression that the amount was consistently applied across all ten administrative regions, despite the fact that six of them only administer the following ‘programmes’: 1) Administration & Finance, 2) Agriculture, 3) Public Works, 4) Education Delivery, 5) Health Services.
Regions 1, 7, 8 and 10 are not budgeted to ‘administer’ Programme 2: Agriculture. The difference in ‘span of control’ would normally influence the value of the incumbency, except with the qualification that the incumbents should be rotatable.
The amount of $247,526 in 2012 fell within the salary Grade GS13 then valued $236,276-416,080. GS13 is the same Grade which applies to the following sample of posts: Director, Office of the Budget; Director of Health Science Education; Chief Parliamentary Counsel; Deputy Finance Secretary; Deputy Solicitor General; Principal Magistrate; Registrar of Deeds; Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
The current value of the GS13 position is $245,809-436,884.
It would be reasonable for anyone, if not all, of the above specialist post-holders to enquire of the professional qualifications and related experience criteria utilised for the selection to manage the multifaceted breadth of responsibilities assigned to the Regional Executive Officer.
For that the following (sample) comparisons may also be of interest:
The range of senior personnel reporting to the Regional Executive Officer of each administration includes the following:
Administration and Finance Education Delivery
Deputy Regional executive Officer Regional Education Officer
Principal assistant Secretary (Finance) Education Officer
Principal Personnel Officer Senior Schools Welfare Officer
Assistant Regional Executive Officer
Chief Accountant
Public Works
Engineer
Senior Superintendent of Works
Health Services
Medical Superintendent
Hospital administrator
Regional Health Officer
Matron
Questions which need to be asked should concern:
i) The substantive status of the Regional Executive Officer who sits at the top of a uniquely multifaceted organisation.
It is clear that the position is not pensionable. It must therefore be presumed that the REO is an employee contracted at an undisclosed level that appears to preclude publication of salary and benefits attributable to the position.
ii) More importantly perhaps, are the education and experience criteria to be satisfied in order to earn such an appointment; and
iii) The recruitment and selection process.
Yours faithfully,
EB John
