The issue regarding a number of temporary employees in the public service who may not be paid on time is engaging the attention of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
Speaking to the media today after a tour of Ocean Two Resort and Residences, Mr. Stuart said: ???Because of the way SmartStream functions, and it happens at the Welfare Department from time to time, at a certain time people are just cut off the system and have to be put back on???Therefore, there were a number of names that dropped out of the system???a lot connected to statutory entities, not Central Government.???
He added that ???where persons are not, therefore, going to be paid through the SmartStream mechanism then their authorisations would have to be done by hand???.
Mr. Stuart continued: ???It is not my understanding that this [situation] has meant that any number of people have been sent home, it is that they have dropped out of the system.???
He pointed out that the present Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler, when he was Minister of Social Care with responsibility for the Welfare Department complained that after a certain time, people on the welfare roll were just disposed of by the computer system because of how the data was inputted.
The Prime Minister disclosed that he met last Wednesday with all of the Heads of Department, Permanent Secretaries and persons of related grades attached to the Prime Minister???s Office and had a comprehensive look at the public service.
sharon.austingill-moore@barbados.gov.bb