Opposition Senator Carlos James has questioned the government’s decision to employ retired teachers as assistant housing assessors after several people who previously served in assessment roles were removed.
James raised the issue on Tuesday during his “On De Record” programme on Star FM, citing a written response provided in Parliament by Housing Minister Andrew John on staffing within the Ministry of Housing.
According to James, the response showed that two retired educators from North Leeward — Glenroy King and Linson Kiel — had been engaged in positions connected to the government’s housing assessment programme.
James said the appointments stood out to him because both men had spent their careers in education before retirement.
“One of them actually taught me at primary school,” he said.
The opposition senator said his concern was not simply that retired teachers had been given government work, but that they were being brought into housing assessment roles after people who had already been carrying out similar duties were removed.
James questioned why the former assessors and assistant assessors were not retained if the ministry still required people to perform assessment work.
He described the information contained in the minister’s parliamentary response as “quite telling” and said it raised questions about the process used to fill the positions.
The opposition has maintained that several housing assessors and assistant assessors lost their positions following the change of government.
James said the latest appointments therefore warranted an explanation from the government, including the criteria used to select the new personnel and the qualifications required for the positions.
The parliamentary response cited by James did not indicate whether King and Kiel directly replaced any particular former assessor or whether the positions were publicly advertised.
James said, however, that the decision to recruit retirees after removing people already performing assessment duties deserved greater public scrutiny.
