By Edwin Astwood
What is going on at the Airports Authority? Why are so many of our people who are in key positions saying “sayonara” to this Self-funded Statutory Body? We are seeing a mass exodus of people from their office at the Airports Authority, and many are questioning why.
In the House of Assembly on January 31, 2024, I stated to the Premier, Deputy Premier, and their Cabinet members that this phenomenon must be looked into and investigated. I went on to list the titles of persons who had recently resigned from their posts at the Airport Authority.
These included; the Deputy CEO of Administration, Fleet Manager, Assistant HR Manager, Airport Manager for Grand Turk, Project Officer (x2), Media Officer, Accounting Officer, and other job titles, including security officers.
Now you reading this, tell me, does that not raise a red flag, is that no reason for concern? Is something wrong with pay? Or maybe the working conditions and the office environment. From sources across the web, the ten most common reasons why people quit their jobs are; Poor Pay, Lack of Career advancement opportunities, feeling disrespected at work, work-life balance, bad bosses, corporate culture no longer fit, lack of recognition, toxic culture, lack of recognition, and company restructuring.
Could the exodus we are seeing from the AA be caused by one of the above, a combination of some of the above, or maybe something not listed here?
Whatever the factor or factors may be, at all falls back on the actions or in actions of the Executive arm of the government, that is the Premier and his Cabinet Ministers. From the moment they took office and became intimately involved with the affairs of the Airports Authority, things have gotten bad and worsened.
I am not insulating that there were never any issues with the Airports Authority, but we have never seen it like this. Too much interference on behalf of the Premier and others into the activities of the Authority, in particular with the Privatization of one of our country's last remaining Cash Cows.
What we are seeing is a reverse “Midas Touch”, every institution in this country that this Premier and his Cabinet touches does not turn to Gold, it turns to, well I’ll let you fill that part in.
We see many institutions also having serious issues. Radio Turks and Caicos since going under the Premier's Office is on life support, having no office to operate from in Providenciales for months, NHIP and NIB since they touched them, both experiencing major issues, Informal Settlement Unit disappeared, e-governance on pause, Housing nothing being built, Traffic Struggling, Immigration Department struggling, Ministry of Health in need of Health Care, Agriculture abandoned, fisheries gone fishing, the environment neglected, green budgeting inexistent, connectivity and internet the worse it has ever been.
That is to name a few. I have not touched on the Big-Ticket Items of Crime, Illegal Immigration, Cost of Living, Health Care, Job Placement, and Scholarships, Lack of Affordable housing, because as we know, these require addressing individually.
The Premiere and his government are not fixing anything but are messing up everything.
I will never say that the current PDM has the answers to All of our problems, but we have many answers for many of our problems. It is our mission to Build this country for You.
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