‘Get rid of some of the consultants’

Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn wants to know how many consultants
are contracted by the Government and how much money they are being
paid.

He posed the questions earlier this week as the Senate debated the
Barbados Optional Savings Scheme Bill. Franklyn said that while the
salaries of all public officers, including the Governor General, are
documented in the Official Gazette, there are no details provided on
what the consultants that are being engaged by the State are paid.

“I hear some people talking about $30,000 a month. That’s more than
the Prime Minister makes you know and they make these fancy salaries,
but nobody tells you how much they are making and they should, because
this is government money. Government money, the spending of it should
be clear, you should know. You shouldn’t have to guess,” he
maintained.

The senator added, “I can tell you how much the President makes by
opening the Official Gazette. I can tell you how much the clerk makes.
I can tell you everybody in the public service from the Governor
General down to the maid. But you have consultants and hide the amount
of salaries you giving them. Get back some of the money from them. Get
rid of some of them.”

He said cutting the consultants was a good way to save money at this
time, adding that Government should also look at reducing the Cabinet.
Franklyn, who has long called for the Cabinet to be reduced, argued
that there are a lot of ministries that are unnecessary. His comments
came as he said that cutting the “bloated Cabinet” should have been
Government’s first attempt to help the economy and not the Barbados
Optional Savings Scheme (BOSS) initiative.

“That is what you should be attacking first, not asking public
officers to help you out of your mess. Do your thing first and when
you do that, you trim the Cabinet to the 12 that the Leader of the
Opposition then, now Prime Minister, was saying that Barbados needed;
you trim it down to 14 then and you get rid of all those consultants,”
he said.

He made the point while suggesting that the public service is top
heavy. Franklyn, who is also a trade unionist, said contrary to
popular belief, there are not too many civil servants in Barbados,
arguing that there are in fact too many heads. As such, he maintained
that the public service could cut some of the heads as well.

“You would be surprised how much money you would save if you take away
some of these people from the top,” he contended.

He added, “Many hands don’t necessarily make light work. It is like
many hands putting salt in the pot – too many cooks spoil the broth.”

Franklyn said if after Government makes those cuts and still want
help, then he would gladly advise the public officers to lend their
assistance.