PHILIPSBURG:--- Several civil servants that participated in the 2016 parliamentary elections and were not re-elected chose not to return to the civil service but instead has taken as much as one year leave of absence in order to collect the monies they could get elected officials get when they leave office until they find a job.
While these civil servants could return to the civil service they chose not to do so and in turn collect a sizeable salary each month for doing nothing.
SMN News questioned the Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. about this on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers press briefing, and he said that those civil servants that took leave of absence are not getting their salaries, but instead they are receiving the stipend that is in place for politicians that served but were not re-elected.
