Fuelled by the failure of the management of CLICO (Guyana) to adequately address their concerns, a few agents attached to the embattled insurance company yesterday staged a protest in front of the company’s Camp Street Head Office.
The agents who gathered complained that they had not received their full commissions since January and that no explanation had been given.
They also stated their displeasure at the way they had been treated by senior management of the company, who they charged had dealt with them very disrespectfully, and who have not even properly acknowledged that the clients the company had were primarily because of their efforts.
On July 3, the agents were instructed to vacate the company’s Head Office on Camp Street by former chief executive officer Geeta Singh-Knight. Singh-Knight was appointed assistant manager to Maria van Beek, after the company was placed under judicial management in February.
One agent told this newspaper that after the agents were instructed to leave the premises, he was prevented from re-entering the compound the following week. He said that following this incident, he went to the Ministry of Labour, where a senior official at the ministry contacted the management of the insurance company, and some settlement was arrived at.
This agent said that they were asked by the official at the Labour Ministry to submit a formal statement to the ministry. He said that no statement had been submitted since he was told that the matter would be dealt with “in due process”, which did not go down well with all the agents.
Meanwhile, with regard to their commissions, the agents said they have received some payment from the company but far less than they are supposed to get.
“Our commission slip says one thing and we get paid another amount,” one agent who gave her name as Ms Telford said. Another agent Philip Chance explained that whenever this issue was raised with Singh-Knight and other members of CLICO management, no explanation was given.
Rayana Warde, who said she has been an agent with the company for over two years, was very vocal in her disapproval of the actions of the management. “Our clients are paying their premiums and yet we cannot get paid what is ours,” she said.
Another agent also complained that the insurance company refused to give the agents their release letters which would allow them to be employed at other insurance companies.
This matter has not been addressed by the CLICO management or the Commissioner of Insurance, the agent complained. He said this has forced some of the agents to resign, which means that they would have forfeited their pensions.
The company fell on hard times when its US$34 million investment in CLICO (Bahamas) was found to be tied up in real estate in Florida. CLICO (Guyana) was placed under judicial management on February 25 after CLICO (Bahamas) was put into liquidation. The sum of money invested by CLICO (Guyana) in the Bahamian company represented 53% of the local company’s assets, which put CLICO (Guyana’s) liquidity under enormous strain. Guyana is currently trying to retrieve this investment from CLICO (Bahamas).
