The list of journalists, including myself, who were invited to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s first press briefing for the year by the communication unit at Jamaica House came in my e-mail as junk mail, so I missed the briefing. I wanted to attend the briefing, but e-mails sometimes have their own agenda. Strangely, it was the only e-mail that entered the junk box that day. All the other e-mails at the time and since came through normally.

However, to turn to more serious matters. The manner in which Lois Grant, communications consultant, was separated from her post at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) warrants an apology. Journalists should not be subjected to such behaviour by any organisation, whether in the public service or the private sector. The prime minister’s staff was fired by the administration under the guise that “it was the done thing” when governments changed.

Grant wants to know when her appointment became a political one as she was employed under the term “consultant” because her salary scale was outside what was offered to the “director of communications”. She ran the entire communications unit, working as director of communications, press secretary and a senior manager/administrator – “all for the same salary”. She said that she had to chase Jamaica House to get an increase in salary, and when she was sent the last contract, she returned it insisting that she needed to see the increase in writing, after which she got a separate letter advising her contract was terminated. She said OPM sat on her contract from the time she asked for a confirmation of the increase till the day after elections – that was from October 2011 to December 30, 2011.

Grant said that when she went to Jamaica House to deal with her business a woman security guard went to her car and shouted to another guard, “She no wuk yah no more… yuh cyaan let har in.” That other guard went to her car saying he was sorry but had to follow instructions. When Grant went back to Jamaica House another day, she was again barred. She was told by a security guard that her name and those of nine other top professionals who worked under the previous government were not to be allowed on the premises.

Grant said Jamaica House acted quickly after the publication of her case in my column of February 28. Until then she had got no response to e-mails about her separation pay package. The permanent secretary seemed to have been incommunicado.

It is clear that the administration at the Office of the Prime Minister did not explain fully to Grant the conditions of her employment when she was hired. She was not employed through the Office of the Services Commission which offers solid protection to public servants, so she would not have been so treated. The Jamaica Civil Service Association, the public servants’ union, would also come into the loop.

I was informed by the commission that some years ago it turned over some of its authority to OPM. This enabled the administration at OPM to employ qualified people on the recommendation of the political directorate. These are political appointments. And the administration can also fire these people whenever there is a change of government.

Unlike when I was press secretary to prime ministers Hugh Shearer, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga and PJ Patterson, I was already a public servant on each occasion and the most each administration could do to me was to transfer me back to the Jamaican Information Service where I held a substantive post. There is no doubt that Grant’s appointment was political. It is normal for all such persons appointed have to go when there is a change of government.

I understand that the administration fired the political appointees a day after the election. Some political appointees do not wait to be fired. For example, the respectful Neville James, senior communication consultant/adviser to Prime Minister Bruce Golding, says emphatically that he regarded his appointment as political and certainly he had no expectation that he would be needed by the new administration. As a consequence he started to remove his personal possessions immediately after the elections. He also removed the parking sticker from the windshield of his vehicle as he had no reason to return to Jamaica House.

James called the Human Resource Department to inquire about the list of people fired. Their explanation was that they had provided security with a list of people who were no longer employed at OPM. The list was done after letters were issued terminating the contracts consequent on the change of government. Apparently, the places were being cleared for the new administration. I hope that all those employees were paid all that was provided in their contracts.

The arrangements by the PNP administration for separation from jobs was quite different from that of the Bruce Golding administration in 2007. The press secretary, Lincoln Robinson, was quickly separated from his job, but in a much tidier way. He was even invited to the installation of Golding as prime minister. The High Commissioner to London, former PNP Minister of Education Burchell Whiteman, was given two years to demit office after the JLP won in 2007. Anthony Johnson, the JLP High Commissioner to London was given two months to quit after the PNP won the elections last December.

The bottom line is that the political appointees, whether PNP or JLP, must be fully informed about their appointment from the start. They should be told that if there is any change of government their contracts will be terminated.