This news article is a production distributed through Caribbean News Service. It is made freely available to your media and we encourage publishing and redistribution, giving credit to Caribbean News Service (CNS).
ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Jan 11 2016 – The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) Monday criticised the recent dismissal of the Vice President of Tourism, North America, Marie Walker, after less than one year on the job as being “symptomatic of the gross incompetency and failure that plagues the ABLP administration.”
The timing of Mrs. Walker’s removal during the height of the tourist season, points to a lack of effective management and planning, as tourism officials scramble to address the chaos brought about by this management crisis, the UPP said in a statement.
The UPP expresses dissatisfaction and outrage with the limited selection process and imprudent approach that the ABLP continues to take in making appointments to top management positions. The party believes that the government’s recruitment and selection practices continue to undermine national identity and pride by rejecting and excluding qualified Antiguan and Barbudan nationals, disregarding valuable stakeholder input and eroding public confidence.
“From all reports, the hire of Marie Walker, a Jamaican national, in 2015 was handled unprofessionally and conducted hastily, without sufficient background checks or clear performance benchmarks. The entire selection process took less than a week. Walker was contacted on Monday, January 5, 2015, traveled to Antigua the next day and had a 2-year contract in hand by Friday, January 9, 2015. There was no selection panel, no other candidates were considered for the position and thorough background checks were never conducted with Tourism Departments in Jamaica and Anguilla, where Walker had been previously terminated,” the UPP said.
It added that the same haste and lack of transparency with which this hire was made, was reflected in the manner in which Mrs. Walker was terminated with immediate effect on January 8, 2016.
The UPP said Walker travelled to Antigua on January 5, 2016, for a performance review, ahead of her one-year anniversary on the job. Her lack of performance as Vice President, in improving tourism stay over arrivals from North America, was cited as a major reason for her immediate dismissal.
However, the opposition party noted that the timing of Mrs. Walkers’ sacking was not well orchestrated, as it coincided with the destination’s participation in the New York Times Travel Show, the largest consumer travel show in North America. This action leaves the destination’s tourism marketing efforts in a vulnerable and compromised position, at a time when visitor arrivals from North America have dropped to the lowest levels in 10 years.
In light of the severance costs, negative consequences and disruption caused by this poor hiring decision by the ABLP, the UPP continues to advocate for the empowerment of nationals, ensuring that they are given every priority and opportunity to fill top ranking positions. The party is demanding an immediate review of the government’s hiring practices and the creation of a system that will facilitate a more effective job search process.
Political Leader for the UPP, Senator Harold Lovell, has described the sequence of events surrounding Walker’s dismissal as a major conundrum. “This limited, ad hoc and reactive approach to recruitment and selection, particularly for the highest administrative positions, creates a poor public image of our country and points to the lack of planning, vision and leadership that plagues the ALP administration. We need a clear, innovative roadmap and an aggressive outreach strategy to attract the best talent for these key positions.”
Lovell further added, “After 10 years of effective governance, the UPP administration has left a legacy of educational empowerment and we will continue to push for a ‘People First Policy’ that empowers Antiguan and Barbudan nationals. Through our efforts we have created a talented pool of educated and trained professionals from which to make better selections and to achieve a significantly higher return on investment.”
