Two days after the Government’s announcement that Lieutenant General Rocky Meade had been appointed the new cabinet secretary and head of the public service the former soldier made an about-turn and declined the offer as it became embroiled in controversy.

“Although I was invited by the Public Services Commission to be considered for the post while I was still a serving officer, the current public discourse does not provide a sufficiently settled environment for the assumption of such a significant office,” Meade said in a statement Thursday night.

He said he would seek the governor general’s understanding of his decision to decline the post which the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) had announced on Tuesday and which surprised the country.

On Thursday night, shortly after Meade’s announcement, Opposition Senator Donna Scott-Mottley told the Jamaica Observer that she was not surprised by the former chief of defence staff’s decision.

“We all know Rocky Meade. He’s a man of integrity and we know he would not have wanted to start off being so compromised and with having so much public discourse around his appointment, so I am not surprised at all that he declined,” Scott-Mottley said. “It’s exactly what I would have expected of him.”

The OPM had announced that Meade would succeed Ambassador Douglas Saunders, who will be stepping down from the position on October 1. Saunders has been cabinet secretary and head of the public service since 2008.

The OPM release had reported Prime Minister Andrew Holness as saying, “Meade’s years of experience in Government will be an asset to the public service and a crucial part of our continued thrust toward efficiency and service excellence.”

The release also quoted Meade, who retired from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in January 2022, as saying he was “humbled and honoured to be considered for this critical role” and pledged “to further the positive evolution of the public service for the benefit of the wider society”.

Initially, People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman on the public service, Senator Lambert Brown said there had been no consultation with the Opposition on the appointment and, while there was no legal obligation on the part of the prime minister to involve the Opposition, it would have been the decent thing to do.

Brown also said that while, the PNP would not “make much fuss about it”, the party “will judge Rocky Meade by his performance going forward”.

However, since then Opposition Leader Mark Golding has questioned Meade’s eligibility for the post and senior attorneys in the country have suggested that the appointment was in breach of the constitution.

In his statement Thursday night Meade said he was advised by the Office of the Cabinet that he would receive a letter of appointment, from the governor general, through the office of the services commission, for the post on the recommendation of the prime minister with input from the Public Services Commission.

“After almost four decades of service to the people of Jamaica I was convinced to continue to serve and had initially indicated my intention to accept the offer,” Meade explained.

But, in her response, Senator Scott-Mottley said it was “unfortunate that the Public Services Commission would have made this mistake” and invite Meade to take up the position while he was a military officer.

“The only way that he could have been accepted is if, after he retired from the military, he had been appointed to a public service position from which he could have led. But I really do think that the fact that he could have been offered a position suggests, unfortunately, that there was nobody in the public service who was deserving of that appointment, and I cannot accept that. We have persons who are there for many years and who have served this country faithfully, loyally, and with distinction,” Scott-Mottley told the Observer.

She accused the Government of bungling the appointment, saying that no due diligence had been done and that they were obviously not familiar with the section of the constitution dealing with such a matter.

“The JDF is not part of the public service. If you look at the definition of the public service and public officer it speaks to serving in a civil establishment. The army is not a part of the civil establishment, it’s not part of the public service. It is governed by the Defence Act. You will notice that the constitution even makes reference to the police, but nowhere will you see any reference to the military, and it is well known and understood that the military does not form a part of the public service,” she said.

Asked whether she thought the prime minister had received poor legal advice, Scott-Mottley said she could not comment on whether he sought legal advice. However, it is “so clear in the constitution that the appointment was inappropriate that I shudder to think that any attorney would have advised him in that manner”.

Added Scott-Mottley, “Apparently he did not consult with the attorney general, because the attorney general declined an interview on the basis that his opinion was now being sought.”