Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
There is confusion in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital over the planned disengagement of political appointees in the administration of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson.
Dickson has gone down in history as the Bayelsa governor with the highest number of appointees in an administration in the state.
Since his re-election in 2016, the governor has appointed 2,350 political appointees and an additional 100 political appointees were announced in the build-up to the 2019 Bayelsa governorship election.
However most of the appointees comprising of Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and members of the Rural Development Authority have been grumbling over the delay in the payment of their November salary.
The complaints from the appointees was said to have been brought to the notice of the governor who felt betrayed by their actions especially their lack of patience and loyalty to his administration as it grapples with the activities of transition.
The Secretary to the State Government, Mr Kemela Okara in a statement to directly address the delay in the payment of salaries to political appointees explained that “as a government in transition we have been battling to meet our diverse financial obligations.”
Mr Okara who explained that the government placed payment of salaries of civil servants as top priority added that with the payment completed, it is now processing the payment of salaries of political appointees.
According to him with a month to the end of the administration, only political appointees whose functions are critical to the transition process would be retained.
While disclosing that the government has begun the list of appointees to receive benefits, he enjoined them to remain optimistic about the post-election outcome of cases instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The statement reads in part “With effectively one month to go to the end of this government, only political appointees whose positions are critical to the transition process will be retained henceforth to manage this process. We trust that all political appointees appreciate the enormous sacrifices Government has made with the unprecedented number of political appointments made from 2012 to date. In the interim, we wish to also state that the government has begun the process of compiling the list of appointees who are by law entitled to receive benefits, with a view to making payment before government finally winds down in February 2020.
Further, we also use this medium to enjoin our appointees and teeming supporters to hope for the best post election outcome going forward.
Finally, His Excellency the Governor seeks to use this medium to thank all political appointees for their hardwork and commitment to the Restoration government over the years and especially at this time of transition.“