July 24, 2026
Decades after retired public sector employees fought to secure a fund that holds money they claim the government has long owed them, the Public Sector Workers Trust is now under new scrutiny following a recent independent audit that has raised red flags about specific grant distributions and loans that were ultimately fully written off.
Dean Flowers, president of the Public Service Union, has pushed back against calls to launch an investigation into the trust’s board of trustees, laying out a clear argument that administrative staff, rather than volunteer or appointed trustees, bear responsibility for the day-to-day financial management of the fund.
In comments carried over from an evening television news broadcast, Flowers emphasized that the trust has a long-standing track record of publishing independently audited annual financial statements, which are made available to the public. Any public sector worker affected by the 1995 and 1997 salary increment freezes—who form the core group of beneficiaries of the fund—are free to review these documents and raise questions directly with the trust’s leadership, he noted.
Flowers added that all past independent audits have been formally submitted to the courts for oversight, a process that he says already provides a layer of accountability for the trustees. He also pointed to a clear legal and operational separation of duties within the trust’s structure: trustees do not have access to bank accounts, nor do they have authority to sign checks for fund disbursements. All of these day-to-day financial tasks are handled exclusively by the trust’s administrative team, which includes the fund administrator, finance officer and accountant.
While Flowers rejects the idea of investigating trustees, he acknowledged that if legitimate questions have been raised about how the fund is managed, scrutiny should be directed at the administrative personnel who hold direct control over financial operations. He also urged beneficiaries to engage actively with the trust, attend public meetings and hold leadership accountable to ensure the fund continues to operate in compliance with the Trust Act and its own governing trust deed.
This report is a transcript of a televised evening news segment, with all translated text from Creole rendered using a standardized spelling system.