Minister denies Agriculture Dept’s VG staff paid for doing nothing

Agriculture Minister Dr Natalio Wheatley has denied that staff at the Agricultural Department’s Virgin Gorda office have been getting paid while doing no work.

“I don’t think that’s true. We have, I know, one particular worker over there, Leslie Maduro. She’s very active and a very impressive employee. So I certainly can’t agree with that statement,” Dr Wheatley said during a press briefing late last week about food security matters in the territory.

He further related that the Director of the Department of Agriculture had been seeking ways to be able to challenge employees in being involved in what was taking place on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, Dr Wheatley said he wanted to acknowledge what he termed the vibrant agricultural and fisheries industry in Virgin Gorda, adding that a substation that was being launched there will be able to help provide the kind of technical support and regulation that the government was looking forward to having.

The Agriculture Minister added that he only saw positives moving forward and said he didn’t feel that the territory should be looking backwards.

“We have big plans, we have big ambitions for agriculture and fisheries and you have to put the groundwork in,” he said.

According to the Deputy Premier, the government took over the agricultural sector after it had flatlined and had to use a proverbial defibrillator to shock the industry back to life.

“We are going to see it thrive and I am quite optimistic and happy about seeing the plans come forward that we have for 2022 and beyond,“ Dr Wheatley added.