Public Utilities Minister: OJT on autopilot for years

Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath says the On-the-Job Train­ing (OJT) Pro­gramme has been op­er­at­ing on “au­topi­lot” for years, with sev­er­al key po­si­tions va­cant, in­clud­ing those of ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor and deputy ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor.

Speak­ing dur­ing yes­ter­day’s Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee ex­am­i­na­tion of the Min­istry of Pub­lic Util­i­ties’ 2027 bud­getary al­lo­ca­tions, Padarath said the min­istry was re­view­ing the pro­gramme’s op­er­a­tions af­ter re­cent­ly as­sum­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for it.

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“Mem­ber, you would be quite sur­prised to know that our re­search has found in the last sev­en years, at least sev­en years, that a num­ber of these va­can­cies have not been met and the OJT pro­gramme re­al­ly has been run­ning on au­topi­lot,” he said.