Above: St George’s, Grenada (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Grenada’s government is looking to take steps to depoliticise the public service, according to Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.

Thomas was speaking about his decision to establish the Office of the Prime Minister as an entity separate and distinct from the Prime Minister’s Ministry.

“This new arrangement is to protect and preserve the independence of the public service,” Thomas said. “It does not add to the wage bill. It is a management tool using the existing political appointees who are expected to leave their positions when the government demotes office.”

Thomas said the model was similar to that of Canada, which separates those holding contractual appointments as advisors, personal assistants, public relations officers and the like are identified separately from the normal public service.

According to Thomas, the new vote groups contractual appointees from the various ministries under one heading, to maximise their “strategic value.”

The Grenadian opposition has claimed that the increase in the country’s wage bill had come due to political appointees; Thomas said previous governments have had similar appointees, however.