Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, who is also responsible for the public service, said on Love 97’s radio programme, “Issues of the Day” with Jeff Lloyd, that governemnt will have to take a wait-and-see approach before it can giver her the money.
“The government has an obligation that is owed, the Prime Minister acknowledged that,” said Mr. Mitchell yesterday, “but he did not say anything about when the payment would be made.” Mr. Mitchell said the payment is dependant on the same conditions as any other government debt.
“This means,” he said, “that as with the civil servants’ pay increase, the government must wait until it is financially prudent to pay the money.
Many civil servants had criticised government for their decision to pay Lady Pindling. Their objection was that if the treasury was “in fact broke” how was government able to find the half- million dollars to pay Lady Pindling.
Mr. Mitchell denied this saying clearly Lady Pindling would have to wait to be paid just like the 24,000 plus civil servants who have been asked to wait until December to receive back pay and salary raises.
Source: The Tribune
