Header Image: Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis.
Here we go again – this time we’re off to Jamaica..
The Gleaner
More than a dozen workers at the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) are urging the Auditor General’s Department to investigate the entity’s hiring and firing practices.
This call follows a Sunday Gleaner investigation revealing that an oversight committee was disbanded shortly after it voted against an applicant who was subsequently hired.
An employee highlighted the urgent need for Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis to probe the CLA, pointing to a “total lack of transparency” since the committee’s disbandment six months ago. “Mrs Monroe Ellis should step in urgently. We have no other hope. Six months without the committee?”
Another official said “contracts are weaponised and utilised to suppress employees so they suffer in silence or to fire employees”.
“The management style has led to low staff morale and fostered division and isolation within the organisation,” noted a third official, who said the audit should examine potential conflicts of interest in recruitments.
The CLA, which regulates Jamaica’s ganja industry, employs 65 people, all on contracts. The agency’s chief executive officer (CEO), Farrah Blake, has not responded to questions The Gleaner submitted last month.
The Jamaica Civil Service Association, a union representing 30,000 government workers, has expressed concern about the absence of the Human Resource Executive Committee.
According to the CLA’s Human Resource Policy and Procedures Manual, the CEO is “ultimately accountable for the exercise of the human resource management functions of the authority” and “in carrying out such functions, the CEO shall establish accountability mechanisms, to include a Human Resource Executive Committee”.
The committee of senior staff makes recommendations for appointment, separation, training, and discipline to the CEO.
In January, the committee rejected a candidate for the position of director of human resource management and administration, citing insufficient qualifications. It suggested considering the candidate for a procurement division role instead.
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