Staff urged to drive agro forward

AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister John Simon says officials at the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) must work to drive the agriculture sector forward.
Simon said everyone was fighting for the top position and no one wanted to work together.
“There is so much infighting in this department and on who becomes the secretary, deputy secretary, director and when there is infighting they do not respect themselves and nothing gets done,” he said.
Simon said one of his directives to the department to develop price support and freight subsidy policies was not implemented because of the infighting.
“Everyone is fighting among themselves, they are saying ‘why should I listen to them’, ‘why should I deliver’ so the Minister gets annoyed.
“There has been so much infighting within DAL since I came in, two years is enough for me to see all these things, because of that, Cabinet (National Executive Council) decided to appoint somebody outside the department to become the next acting secretary.
“At DAL, when the instruction is given, nothing gets done.
“One of the good example is the price support that this Government is running, we still do not have a policy,” Simon said.
“The new government that comes in, they can take it on from there with the new policy.”