And just like he gave the PM the green light, he also had no qualms about former minister, the 80+ year old Florencio Marin Sr, being hired by the Ministry of Agriculture as an adviser for one year on a contract basis.
The issue now though is that Marin Sr retired from politics over a decade ago - and is now being rehired - even as two of his children are currently cabinet members in the same government.
But Minister Usher says that his expertise makes him the perfect man for the job.
Hon. Henry Charles Usher, PUP Chairman
"We believe that his experience and expertise is one that the government and the people can certainly benefit from and that is why he is being brought in on a very short-term contract - one year, to make sure that he gives his advice to this SICB initiative. I believe, we have to be able to utilize all of our resources and not because you are retired, it doesn't mean that you have something to offer. certainly, whereas we want to make sure that if you are on a pension, if you have retired from the public service already, you wouldn't want to have too many persons on contract. We want to make sure that our young
public officers have a clear line of promotion and for getting in whatever position they want to achieve. I believe it's also important for a developing nation to utilize all our human resources possible."
