Algernon Watts
(Antigua Observer) – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has publicly berated former Social Security Board chairman Kem Tonge, ridiculing his performance during the Jolly Beach controversy and revealing that he ordered him removed from the position.
In a personal attack on a former government appointee, Browne accused Tonge of sitting silently through a contentious public meeting while Cabinet ministers were left to defend the proposed Social Security investment in Jolly Beach.
The prime minister said Tonge attended the meeting, took “copious notes” and said nothing, despite being chairman of the statutory body at the centre of the controversy.
“He didn’t utter a single word,” Browne said on radio Saturday.
Browne then disclosed what followed.
“Take him off the board,” he said, recounting the decision to remove Tonge from the Social Security chairmanship.
Tonge has since been replaced as chairman, but the circumstances surrounding his departure had not previously been laid out in such stark terms.
