by Linda Straker
- Roderick St Clair, is Agricultural and Fishing Communities representative in Senate
- Public Sector Employees Pension Fund came into enforcement on 1 January 2025
- Fiscal Resilience Oversight Committee has an ECCB representative
A senator in the Upper House of Parliament believes that the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) should be represented on the trust that Government will establish to manage the contributory Pension Fund as mandated in the Public Sector Employees (Pension Fund) Bill which came into enforcement on 1 January 2025.
Roderick St Clair, the Agricultural and Fishing Communities representative in the Senate, in his contribution during the debate of the bill in the 27 December 2024 sitting, disclosed that based on the scope of the trust, the ECCB should be represented in that space.
“We trust them with the FROC, why [are] we afraid to put them here? They know about the world, they know about money management. They sit in a space where they see everything that is going on within the OECS exchange,” St Clair said.
“The ECCB is the highest body of the monetary union; just bring them in, let them sit at the table,” he said, pointing out that including an ECCB representative will not be a first for Grenada because there is already an ECCB representative on the Fiscal Resilience Oversight Committee (FROC).
The bill was debated and approved in the Lower House of Parliament on 18 December and in the Upper House or Senate on 27 December 2024. The Commencement Order for the bill is Statutory Rules and Order No. 38 of 2024 dated 30 December, with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell named as the Minister responsible for Public Administration. The bill, now an Act of Parliament, came into effect on 1 January 2025.
The legislation states that the Board of the Trust shall be appointed as Trustees by the Governor-General, acting on the advice of the Minister responsible for Public Administration.
The Trust which is established in accordance with the Trustee Act, Chapter 329 will comprise:
(a) the permanent secretary with responsibility for public administration or his or her designate
(b) the permanent secretary with responsibility for finance or his or her designate; who shall be ex officio members; and
(c) the following other persons:
(i) an attorney-at-law who has been practising at the Bar for at least 10 years
(ii) an actuary or a person with actuarial qualifications or experience
(iii) one person who has demonstrated knowledge and experience in finance
(iv) one person who has at least 5 years of experience in human resource management
(v) one person who has demonstrated knowledge and experience in investment
(vi) one person after consultation with the trade unions representing public sector employees
(vii) one person after consultation with the statutory bodies
