Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor-Pol­i­tics

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

There is a new chair­man at the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC). For­mer per­ma­nent sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment, Jacque­line Wil­son, was ap­point­ed to the po­si­tion by Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Car­la Kan­ga­loo dur­ing a cer­e­mo­ny at Pres­i­dent’s House, St Ann’s, yes­ter­day.

Ac­cord­ing to a state­ment from the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent, Wil­son brings decades of ex­pe­ri­ence in pub­lic ad­min­is­tra­tion, gov­er­nance re­form and in­sti­tu­tion­al de­vel­op­ment to the role.

Wil­son pre­vi­ous­ly served as per­ma­nent sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment and as a di­rec­tor in the Gov­er­nance and In­sti­tu­tion­al De­vel­op­ment Di­vi­sion of the Com­mon­wealth Sec­re­tari­at in Lon­don.

The Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent said Wil­son “sup­port­ed pub­lic sec­tor de­vel­op­ment across Com­mon­wealth mem­ber states, in­clud­ing those who were ex­pe­ri­enc­ing po­lit­i­cal and ad­min­is­tra­tive tran­si­tion, help­ing new­ly elect­ed ad­min­is­tra­tions align struc­tures, pri­or­i­ties and de­liv­ery sys­tems with their pol­i­cy agen­da.”

Wil­son al­so played a key role in shap­ing sev­er­al state in­sti­tu­tions and re­form ini­tia­tives dur­ing her pub­lic ser­vice ca­reer. The state­ment not­ed that while serv­ing as per­ma­nent sec­re­tary be­tween 2002 and 2006, Wil­son trans­formed the Min­istry of Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion in­to “a ma­jor pub­lic ser­vice plat­form,” sup­port­ing re­forms such as the Gov­ern­ment Hu­man Re­source Ser­vice, the Gov­ern­ment In­for­ma­tion Ser­vice and the ttCon­nect Ser­vice Cen­tre.

The state­ment said since re­tir­ing from the Pub­lic Ser­vice, Wil­son has con­tin­ued to work in gov­er­nance and in­sti­tu­tion­al ad­vi­so­ry roles.

Her con­tri­bu­tion to pub­lic ad­min­is­tra­tion has earned na­tion­al recog­ni­tion over the years. The Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent not­ed that Wil­son al­so re­ceived the Pub­lic Ser­vice Medal of Mer­it (Gold) in 2017 and the Gor­don Drap­er Award for Pub­lic Ser­vice Trans­for­ma­tion in 2023.

Wil­son holds a Mas­ter of Arts in Po­lit­i­cal Sci­ence with a ma­jor in Hu­man Re­source Man­age­ment and a Bach­e­lor of Arts with Ho­n­ours in Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wind­sor.

She re­places Mark Ramk­er­rysingh, who served two suc­ces­sive five-year terms be­fore his re­tire­ment. He was first ap­point­ed to the po­si­tion in 2016 by then-Pres­i­dent An­tho­ny Car­mona, suc­ceed­ing Dr Nor­bert Mas­son.

Fol­low­ing his ini­tial five-year term, he was reap­point­ed for an­oth­er five-year term by Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes on May 25, 2021.