Yesterday, the new Chief Environmental Officer, who replaces Martin Alegria, was announced. Anthony Mai, a former environmental officer, is poised to take over. It seemed like a smooth transition, especially since he had shared in the responsibilities of the position during the selection process. But the PSU is tonight saying that the game was rigged to ensure that he took up the post.
That's because, previously an internal vacancy would ask for a Master in Science in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Law or other related fields. But the president is claiming that this was amended to include Master in Management as well, and he says that's because Mai's degree is in Business Administration.
Therefore, he calls the government's press release, in which they say Mai's degree has a concentration in sustainable development, "misleading."
Flowers also said that there were other senior officers, more qualified than Mai, who sent a letter back in December to the CEO of Public Service asking for the vacancy to be reverted back to its original form. This was never done and for this reason, these officers chose not to submit their applications. Flowers told us more via Zoom:
Dean Flowers - President, PSU
"Several of them chose not to apply because from the onset when the vacancy went out, they knew that the process was a biased process and that is the concerned that they raised because the department's procedural manual which dictates what were the qualifications for the post of Chief Environmental Officer was not being followed. So, we're here today with the government having issued a press release with stated that 'Mr. Anthony Mai has been appointed the new Chief Environmental Officer and he has a degree from Galen University with concentration in sustainable development.' What they releases failed to say is that in fact Mr. Mai's Master's Degree is in Business Administration and not in the sciences as is required for the post of Chief Environmental Officer. As I stated, they are other officers within the department who have Master's Degree in environmental studies and environmental related studies and science surrounding the environment, so clearly these people academically would have superseded this Master's Degree in Business Administration. It is important for me to note here that Mr. Mai is not the problem here, the problem here is a department of environment led by the CEO who the members consider the cause of the problem. I think in fairness to Mr. Mai, he is only caught in a political game for the CEO's candidate of choice, so please understand this is not an attack on Mr. Mai and I think when I read the letter from the members as well, they are saying clearly that of the 3 members that applied for the post, there are not advocating for anyone of those members, what they are advocating for is for the application process to be more fair and to be in accordance to what was required for the post before the vacancy was being announced."
The deputy Chief Environmental Officer, Edgar Ek, who also had shared responsibilities during the selection process, had also submitted an application, along with one other officer, but with Masters degrees in Science.
