Recovery of overpayment
published: Friday | December 12, 2003

THE EDITOR, Sir:

AS ONE who served the teaching profession for more than a decade prior to migrating to New York City in 1992, I have followed the issue of the overpayment of teachers by the Ministry of Education in the press with interest. One would only hope that the Minister of Education, who is privy to legal counsel, will be guided by the principles of the law governing the issue, which were so clearly expressed in Mr. Delroy Chuck's article recently, and not by the dictates of the terrible financial dilemma currently facing the Government at this time. To do otherwise, by forcing the teachers, some of whom have now retired, to repay the overpaid amount, would not only be illegal but unjust.

In that regard the Government would be failing in one of its primary responsibilities to its citizens: protecting their fundamental rights, through upholding the laws of the land. Of equal relevance to the Government abiding by the laws in the overpayment issue is the critical matter of mismanagement it needs to address at the Ministry of Education. Addressing the problem of mismanagement in the system may in the long run prove more productive and beneficial to the country than taking the teachers to court to try to recover money that it has lost through its own mismanagement and which it might prove legally challenging to recover.

I am, etc,

REV. NEWTON GABBIDON

IPMIorg@aol.com

Brooklyn, New York

Via Go-Jamaica