Finance Secretary appears to have walked off job

Last Updated on Friday, 18 September 2015, 20:38 by GxMedia

Minister of State within the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, announced today that Finance Secretary, Nirmal Rekha, has abandoned his post.

According to Harmon, Rekha had requested leave to which he was entitled and that request was granted. However, the Finance Secretary failed to resume duties after the period of leave came to an end at July 31, 2015. “Up to now, he has not made contact with Government, even though he did make contact with his secretary at the office,” Harmon told reporters at today’s post-Cabinet media conference.

The news of the alleged abandonment by the Finance Secretary to the Treasury was conveyed to Cabinet by Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, who also explained that efforts to contact Rekha proved futile. Presently, Louise Boyer, who was the Deputy Finance Secretary under Rekha, has been appointed Acting Finance Secretary to the Treasury.

Rekha, under the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government, came in at one time for harsh comments, when he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The appointment represented a serious conflict of interest, since as the de facto accounting officer for the Treasury, he was directly responsible for determining, influencing and issuing the budgetary allocations, made to the Georgetown Public Hospital.