The Transport Ministry has experienced a massive shake-up following the sacking of two senior officers and after a high level meeting with Minister Robeson Benn, Kevin Trim and Claudette Rogers have been appointed acting Transport and Harbours Manager (T&HD) and Acting Director General of Maritime Administration, respectively.
The substantive holders of those positions, Karen Bowen and Ivor English were on Thursday afternoon sacked reportedly for unauthorized expenditures for which they have been warned on several occasions. The two reportedly received dismissal letters signed by Benn. Efforts to elicit an explanation from Benn yesterday proved futile since he said he is not yet prepared to discuss the matter.
This newspaper was informed that Benn met with senior officers for a stern meeting yesterday following which he made the acting appointments.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that on several occasions the two were advised not to utilize funds for a number of projects beyond specified amounts without properly notifying the ministry. This newspaper’s source said the two were also told that if there were any problems the ministry must be informed at all times. The source said too that there were a few glaring cases in which both officials were warned but went ahead and made their decisions as they saw fit.
Neither Bowen nor English could be contacted for comment yesterday.
