by Heather Hauswirth

Guam - The Governor's chief of staff, George Bamba, has seven family members that have been hired by the Guam Census Bureau making a combined total salary of $137,905, according to the Bureau of Statistics & Plans director Tony Lamorena. He confirms with KUAM News that the total salary of the six individuals hired for unclassified positions (and a singular classified position held by Cecile Suda, who was appointed by Governor Felix Camacho to be the local office manager), were fair hires and says that the individuals hired have the necessary qualifications for their respective positions.

"Cecile Suda was appointed by the governor to be the local census office manager, but the other positions were clerk positions and had clerical backgrounds and had to pass a test that the census bureau requires" asserted Lamorena.

A controversial family tree circulated among senators identified Cecile Bamba Suda as George Bamba's sister and as the Bureau's manager, making $52,378. The other family members of the governor's chief of staff include

Kristian Bamba Terlaje (Cecile Suda's son), who makes $18,920 as a clerk
Kassandra Bamba Terlaje (Cecile Suda's daughter), who makes $18,370 as a clerk
Cecilia Bamba Gogue (Gina Bamba Artero's daughter, who is George Bamba's sister), who works as a clerk making $11,110
Briana Bamba Muna, the granddaughter of George Bamba and who works as a clerk, making $9,130
Flora Duenas, mother-in-law of Kebrina Duenas (Cecile Suda's daughter), makes $9,627 as a supervisor
Jaime Duenas, sister-in-law of Kebrina Bamba Duenas, makes $18,370 as a clerk

All the familial ties can be attributed to the aforementioned family tree and the salary figures were confirmed by Lamorena.

Lamorena adds that every individual hired had to first get police and court clearances. He further defends the transparency and fairness of the hiring process, saying, "We did open the process. I know that George Bamba did not participate in the hiring process. There was a team hired to do that and they made the recommendations and those recommendations were taken and those interviews were hired. All these individuals we can't release their test scores and that type of thing, but they all scored way above average and in fact they qualify here."

Meanwhile, George Bamba was unavailable for comment and his office says he is currently on leave. Lamorena reiterated that the Stats & Plans did not take the lead on the hiring process, noting, "We are not the lead agency once the management team was put into place; they took the applications in and did the interviews and made their recommendations and so these were their recommendations".

Lamorena says he expects the Census Office to hire close to 700 individuals total and adds he isn't surprised about the family ties to Bamba, "Being Guam the way it is there will be relationships all over the place."

Census Day is April 1, and Lamorena says there are currently approximately 50 or 60 personnel onboard undergoing processing. But the Census Office has not yet started the enumeration process.