At the end of May of this year, Minister of Health and Wellness, Michel Chebat, told the media that Hamid Awe had been terminated as his driver. He then said that Awe was placed on suspension then again he reiterated that Awe had been terminated.
The Guardian has confirmed that contrary to what the Minister told the media, Awe remains on the Government payroll. Save for two weeks in June, Awe has kept receiving his normal salary.
At the time of being put on suspension, a mask-less, shirtless Awe had driven to the Police Station in San Ignacio in the hopes of getting his son freed from police custody after he was caught not wearing a mask. The matter escalated into Awe insulting and threatening on-duty police officers to release his son. The entire episode caused public outage and forced Chebat to take action, but it seems that the actions were merely cosmetic in an effort to placate the public.
That has now taken place and Awe now continues to get paid from the public purse, sending the message that ministerial action needs only to be perceived and everything else falls into the realm of the forgotten.
