TPDCo urged to review hiring policy after scandal

St Andrew East Rural Member of Parliament Juliet Holness has urged senior executives from the Tourism Product Development Company Limited (TPDCo) to comply with its recruitment policy in the wake of a performance audit that flagged the appointment of unqualified persons.

While commending the entity for its significant contribution to Jamaica’s tourism sector, Holness maintained that it was pivotal that the agency obeyed its own rules.

But the lawmaker also pressed officials to review TPDCo’s hiring mandate and remuneration scales to determine whether they were out of step with market rates for postgraduate qualifications.

“We need to be comfortable that you are making the effort to stick to the policies that you have established,” said Holness.

“... When I look at your situation and look at the responses, I am wondering if you don’t need to go back to your policy, because insisting that someone needs a master’s degree, if you are not paying at the requisite level for someone with a master’s degree with experience, you’re never gonna get any.”

Her remarks followed an explanation by executive director of TPDCo Wade Mars, who sought to explain why some members of his team had been appointed to positions without the requisite qualifications.

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis, in a recent performance audit of the entity, had revealed that about eight members of staff appointed to positions did not have the stipulated qualifications for the job.

At a meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, Mars explained that in many instances, the individuals had been working with the organisation for some time and had proven their competencies at getting the job done.

He contended that the staff members flagged by the auditor general have the capacity to carry out the roles assigned, even though they have not met the requisite qualifications for the job.

“What we have to do now is, in a sense, rationalise where certain years of experience, especially within the organisation, counts for something outside of what you get on paper from the university,” Mars said.

He added that part of the challenge was finding people with the right mix of skills.

Mars said he had appraised some of the eight persons without the requisite qualifications and they “have acquitted themselves quite well in the different roles”.

Qualification campaign

Executive human resource manager of TPDCo, Erica Brown Whittingham, told the committee that staffers applied for the positions they now hold after the jobs were advertised. She further pointed out that the officers were interviewed and then “selected based on their abilities and their experience”.

She said the TPDCo has embarked on a qualification campaign for its staff.

“We are encouraging these persons, not through punitive measures but through gentle suasion, to get up to date with their qualifications.”

PAC Chairman Julian Robinson said, however, that he was not comfortable with Mars’ response, noting that the committee was more concerned with process and policy, rather than using exceptions as the norm.

In her remarks, Monroe Ellis stressed that the policy of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service made it clear that the qualification bar must be met.

However, she said that that hurdle was determined by the TPDCo in its job descriptions.

“There is no breach if you put someone to act in a position if they are not qualified. The breach occurs when you appoint them to the post,” she said.

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