Boasman to be reassigned,
his replacement identified
PHILIPSBURG--Efforts are being made to reassign Interim Head of the Island Government Department of Labour Rafael Boasman, because he has completed his assigned tasks at the department, Labour and Social Affairs Commissioner Louie Laveist announced Monday.
The reassignment is likely to take effect as early as this month and the announcement has come amidst reports about mounting friction between the civil servant and the Commissioner.
Commenting on those reports, which suggest he has been demanding Boasman’s removal as a condition for supporting yesterday’s reappointment of Democratic Party Island Council member Maria Buncamper-Molanus as a Commissioner, Laveist said his job had always been to look beyond personal issues and carry out the job he had been elected to do.
Boasman is said to be closely associated with Buncamper-Molanus and served as her election campaign manager during the 2007 Island Council elections. He was also appointed a member of the supervisory board of the TelEm group of companies.
Laveist said Boasman, who has been serving in an interim capacity at the department ever since former head Elaine Gumbs-Vlaun went on retirement close to 10 years ago, had had a task to complete and that task had been accomplished.
He said Boasman had been tasked with the responsibility of reorganising the Labour Department. This initiative included, amongst other things, putting mechanisms in place for the decentralisation of the Central Government Labour Department and merging it into the structure of the Island Labour Department.
Boasman was also in charge of hiring additional staff to boost the department, which had been severely understaffed over the years, and for ensuring that workers were operating in the correct positions. Another task was the automation of the department.
“The department was not functioning well at all and he was in charge of the general reorganisation of the department,” Laveist said.
Efforts are being made to notify Boasman officially about his reassignment. It could not be ascertained to which department Boasman would be reassigned.
Laveist said the Labour Department was an important organ in the island’s system and its proper functioning was pivotal. He said a competent person in the department had been identified to take up the position in the interim and assured that all efforts would be made to ensure that the department continued to function as optimally as possible following Boasman’s departure.
