Drug procurement probe
Almost two months after receiving the report following a probe at the Public Health Ministry which recommended, among other things, that several senior officials at the Ministry be removed or fired, Government has finally heeded the recommendation and removed Permanent Secretary Trevor Thomas, from his post.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon told media operatives at the post-Cabinet press briefing on Thursday that based on recommendations made from the probe that was conducted into the disclosure of information, mismanagement and malpractices within the procurement process of pharmaceuticals at the Ministry, Thomas’ service was terminated as of March 1, 2017.
However, Harmon noted that Thomas will remain within the Public Sector with the chance of him be positioned at another State agency. Asked where Thomas will be placed next, Harmon said, “I can’t tell you that right now but I know that his services as the Permanent Secretary has been terminated.” 
In the meantime, deputy Permanent Secretary at the Public Health Ministry Colette Adams has been bumped up to acting PS until a substantive replacement is found. Adams was among the officials within the Ministry against whom recommendations of discipline were made.
Nevertheless, Harmon pointed out that over the coming days, there will be a major overhaul of Permanent Secretaries at the various Government Ministries.
According to Harmon, there are some other consequential recommendations that were made, and Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence has already taken actions on some of these. “She has gone around to some of the units where procurement is taking place and actually seen for herself what is happening and therefore, you can expect some radical changes taking place where those things are concerned.”
The Board of Inquiry (BoI), led by retired Assistant Police Commissioner Winston Cosbert, had made some 21 recommendations, which it said aims “to increase transparency and improve efficiency and effectiveness in the procurement of pharmaceuticals,” at the Public Health Ministry.
The probe was triggered by allegations of staffers from the Public Health Ministry passing inside information to bidders seeking lucrative drug procurement contracts.
The Bol accused Thomas of being “willfully evasive and deceptive” during his testimony. “He made inconsistent and deceptive statements during his testimony. The Board finds that the inconsistencies were sufficiently material to affect the truthfulness and accuracy of his testimony,” the report outlines while adding that, “The Permanent Secretary, Mr Trevor Thomas, should be removed from the Ministry of Public Health due to his inability to effectively carry out the mandate of the Ministry.” According to the BoI report, the former Permanent Secretary was approached by an accountant attached to the Ministry’s Materials Management Unit, with proof that another employee was giving insider information to a bidder, but he failed to act on it. The BoI did not find sufficient, his explanation as to why there was no investigation into the matter or informed the subject Minister. Moreover, the BoI recommended that Permanent Secretaries should not be on the evaluating committee for their respective Ministries.
