LAGOS OCTOBER 11TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The government of Delta state is not finding it easy at this trying time as many of the political appointees, especially the senior ones are not happy with the way the government is being run.
According to a source in the government house, the recent circular from the office of the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), titled, CLARIFICATION ON THE APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ASSISTANTS AND PERSONAL ASSISTANTS TO CERTAIN POLITICAL OFFICE HOLDERS, is not going down well with the appointed politicians as they are feeling cheated and deprived.
The circular which was signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Hon Festus Ovie Agas, intimated the Political Office holders of all cadre to look inward to get their Personal Assistants (PA) from the pool of workers within the civil service commission, which according to the government will be in line to help in the reduction of waste in the management of the lean resources of the state as prescribed by the Revenue, Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), guidelines between 2000-2003.
According to the circular, “In order to address the various enquiries on the matter, it is to be reiterated that Special Assistants as Aides to both Honourable Commissioners and members of State commissions may be drawn from within, or outside, according to the direction of the principal”.
“As a corollary to the foregoing, any Honourable Commissioner or indeed member of a State Commission who wishes to engage a Personal Assistant (PA), should take advantage of the opportunity provided by the pool of officers in the public service of the state to appoint one”.
However, the political office holders sees the circular as one that will deprive them of recommending persons to be giving such positions as Assistants to the office holders.
According to one political appointee, who does not want to be named, “We cannot just pick someone whom we do not know to be our Personal or Special Assistant. We must understand that person and we might have been working with him or her before now. After all the persons that are supposed to be appointed worked for the victory of this government in one way or the other, and again, they should be people we trust.
“The governor cannot continue to threat us with levity, he has to in one way or the other absorb these people, what they are paying us will not be enough to still take care of them, at least we must have someone we trust to serve us”. He said.
In another development, the recent two days retreat held at Onicha Ugbo, by members of the State Executive and Permanent Secretaries of Ministries was organised to cement the relationship between the Commissioners and the Permanent Secretaries as a result of crack in the government.
Information gathered from the government circle, says that the various commissioners and the civil servants headed by the Permanent Secretary’s had been running a battle of hiding and sick, which according to our source is not good for the progress of the government.