An editorial in Hoy newspaper today, Wednesday 22 October 2014, comments that political patronage continues to prevail. The newspaper says that in a country where the government constantly needs to borrow in order to fund the national budget, unjustified increases in the public payroll are just unforgivable indolence.
The editorialist comments that from August 2012 to August 2014 the Ministry of Education added 20.5% more staff, Public Works added 13.6%, Industry & Commerce 189.9% and Public Health 9.2%, just to name a few.
The editorialist also observes that aside from the increase in the number of employees, there were many cases where wages were assigned above the average for the post.
“During those same two years, strategically important public institutions like the Judicial Branch and the Central Electoral Board received insufficient budgetary allocations and the public hospitals entered into crisis as a result of the deterioration of their infrastructure and lack of funds for supplies.