Female staff: We did not make allegations

SEVERAL senior women staff members from the Department of Community Development have distanced themselves from recent allegations of sexual harassment against Secretary Joseph Klapat.
The women said they were not part of the group that made the allegations.
Acting Deputy Secretary for Community Development, Karen Haive, who spoke on behalf of seven other woman managers, including Betty Billy and Mollie Willlie, said the women who raised the issue were a minority.
Haive said statements published in a daily newspaper on Sept 8 and 18 did not specifically name the nine female officers who made the allegations.
“There were no names of those claiming to be senior officers who petitioned the minister,” she said.
She said the department had many decent professional female officers who wished to publically state that these statements were not from them.
She claimed the women who made the allegations were associates of former acting secretary Anna Solomon, who is challenging the NEC decision to reinstate Klapat.
 “We are career females who have worked hard to earn our promotions. We have not experienced any sexual harassment nor will we tolerate it.
“Sexual harassment is a criminal act. Why didn’t they go to the police at the time?” Haive said.