Fahie said the practice of not taking action against these workers who he said are ‘underperforming’ must not be made to continue because it is now costing the government.

He said: “I don’t like to see people fired but if they ain’t working what else could you do?”

“I have told those in charge of the public service that [I have realised that] if people aren’t doing their work, they don’t discipline them … Yet they put them on the side, create a new position and increase the recurrent [budget]. It cannot continue that way,” added Fahie, who is also the territory’s Minister of Finance.

The Premier also said the government’s payroll continues to increase under the guise of ‘increasing its output’.

He explained: “I have seen the public service over my years in public office grown by this philosophy: ‘give me this person here, and we will be able to grow revenue’. You give them the person and then they come back and they tell you this person need a secretary. Then they come back, and they tell you that the secretary needs a secretary. And then they tell you that the secretary, who get the secretary, need a messenger. Then they come back and tell you that the secretary who gets the secretary who gets the messenger, the messenger needs a messenger.”

Premier Fahie said he suspects that when he refuses their requests to expand the public service, “they are going to tell people Fahie is a dictator”.