Beach Wardens complaint against Tourism Minister
A group of Beach Wardens yesterday registered a very serious complaint against the Tourist Board and staff of that Ministry for what they termed a wicked refusal to pay their salaries for three months running. They frowned at the Tourism Board for being inconsiderate of their pitiful conditions of not receiving a salary for three months in a row adding, “We have families to feed and some of us have extended families; how can we feed them without receiving our salaries?†They fumed.
They explained that their boss, Sessie Williams, simply told them there was no money and that they were at liberty to lodge their complaint for investigation and redress.
Asked whether they belonged to any trade union, the complaining Beach Wardens said they had put all their faith and trust in their bosses who had now disappointed and deserted them.
Sadly, the Permanent Secretary of Tourism Ministry, Melvin Caulker, had offered them good words but they could not feed themselves and their families on soft spoken and sugar-coated words.
“This is why we have come with our complaint for you to solve this problem for us once and for all. Even the chairman of the board has not being of any help to us,†the Beach Wardens complained further.
The soft-speaking Permanent Secretary of Tourism explained that efforts had been made to keep the Beach Wardens abreast of the situation that obtained but they did not seem to understand.
The PS explained that unlike in the past, the Beach Wardens are now paid through government subvention. Government subvention comes once every three months causing a delay in the payment of salaries of Beach Wardens.
“We used to collect levies from hotel owners and used that money to pay the salaries of Beach Wardens but that income generation has since been passed on to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) who are now collecting the levies,†PS Melvin Caulker clarified to this Press
He further elaborated on the efforts being made by Tourism to secure the subvention needed to pay salaries, “and the Beach Wardens know this.â€
The Beach Wardens without their knowledge have now become very important persons who are no longer paid from Hotel Levies but through the government subvention which comes only once every three months.
“Even as we are talking now, massive efforts are being made to remedy the situation and we shall continue to sensitize them on the situation over which we at Tourism have every little control,†the PS concluded.
From all indication it seems that patience is the only answer, and we hope the Beach Wardens know now that they are not being marginalized. Many things are changing these days!
“Let us all keep talking; it is much cheaper in the end to keep talking.”
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