OPM Statement to the Media on The Reengagement of two Public Officers

Because of the public anxiety and political mischief-making caused today by a leaked memo regarding the re-engagement of two senior public officials, we wish to make public all the facts surrounding this issue.

As we transition into government, the Davis administration, like many administrations which preceded it, has decided to re-engage two former senior public officials out of retirement.
Their expertise and long years of experience in the public sector, are invaluable in guiding us through the kind of systemic changes which we have promised to deliver for the Bahamian people.
Along with their salaries, they are being paid the pensions which are due to them for their long years of previous service. The pensions are legally and rightly due to them for this past service, and continues irrespective of future employment. This is not a new policy.

Despite their public utterances, the FNM administration under Hubert Minnis implemented the same policy. Only with characteristic favouritism and complete indifference to ordinary Bahamians, they applied the policy just to the favoured few, cancelling it for all other workers.

The Davis administration does not support the unequal application of this policy. This administration believes that all re-engaged public officers should be treated fairly and equally.
The decision was therefore made to return to the prior policy, which allows all re-engaged public officers to receive their pensions. The end-result is a payment policy that is equitable for all.
This is not a policy under which scores of retirees will be brought back into the public service. The process by which such public officers will be engaged is selective. It is merit-based, and focused on filling assessed skills gaps, meaning that by definition it will be used infrequently.

Prime Minister Davis and his administration are committed to the principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability in public service. We are committed to consulting widely, and engaging the brightest and the best to address the enormous challenges facing our Bahamas. As we wrestle with the health and economic crises we have inherited from the previous administration, we need all hands on deck if we are to overcome these challenges and put the country on a path to good health and prosperity.

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