Last night we told you about the alarm in the police department about what's thought to be a cancellation of all allowances effective April 1st.
Well the alarm is not just in the police department - it's all across the public service. And it's because of an internal document obtained by 7NEWS: circular number 19 of 2004, sent from the Ministry of the Public Service. Described as urgent, it was sent to all heads of department and asks them to submit a list of all allowances currently paid to public officers. And at the end it states, "payment of all allowances will cease effective 31st March 2004."
It's a cryptic, terminal remark and seems to bode ill for those thousands of public officers who depend on allowances. Most concerned are police officers that get all sorts of allowances for the varied tasks that they perform. But COMPOL Carmen Zetina says, "don't believe the hype" - no one's cutting the allowances for his officers.
Jose Zetina, Commissioner of Police
"It will continue as far as I know. I know nothing about it being discontinued. What I do know is that a circular was circulated among other members of the public service but that doesn't apply to police officers as far as I know."
Jules Vasquez,
"Okay, That's circular no. 19 which says that all allowances will be discontinued effective March 31st."
Jose Zetina,
"I haven't seen the circular. But like said, nothing has been said to me as the Commissioner of Police and I have checked with the Ministry of Finance and that is not the case."
While that interview was done this morning, we spoke with CEO in the Ministry of Public Service Margaret Ventura in the afternoon and she said that there's no need for alarm in any department. She described the allowance review as a stocktaking exercise that results from the recommendations of the public service audit team. She explains that the ministry is trying to determine how many allowances are presently being paid and how much it's costing government. But Ventura did point out that many public officers are receiving allowances when the authority for it has long expired and those allowances will be discontinued.
So while some will lose out on a free ride, Ventura stressed that on March 31st, all persons that are rightfully entitled to an allowance will still be getting it.