(Trinidad Express) One day after he was appointed to the Caribbean Airlines (CAL) board on Friday, the appointment of Courtney McNish has been revoked by Finance Minister Larry Howai.
The Express reported yesterday that McNish was previously employed at CAL as vice president of Human Resources in 2008, but was fired from the company in 2009. In a statement yesterday, Howai said he had withdrawn McNish from the interim CAL board chaired by former senator Philip Marshall.
“Immediately as information about Mr McNish’s previous tenure at CAL came to light, I acted to withdraw his name on Friday afternoon as I have every intention of ensuring that the board has the full confidence and faith of all stakeholders and is focused on achieving its very clear mandate,” said Howai.
On Friday, Howai accepted full responsibility for the massive million-dollar losses racked up the national airline.
The Express was told that Howai did not seek Cabinet’s approval to change the board but did so himself.
McNish was one of five members appointed to the CAL board to replace the dismissed board chaired by Rabindra Moonan last Friday.
The Express was informed that McNish’s employment with the airline came to an end following a janitorial contract awarded by CAL to a company in which he was a major shareholder.
Contacted for comment yesterday, McNish who is also president of the National Basketball Federation of Trinidad and Tobago, argued that he was never appointed to the CAL board as he never received any instrument of appointment.
But he confirmed that he was present at the meeting in which the Minister asked him and the other members—Marshall, Vishnu Dhanpaul, Indira Ramkissoon, Patricia Kong-Ting and Jamaican businessman Denis Lalor—to be part of the interim board.
On Friday, Howai had officially announced McNish as one of the members of the interim CAL board.
McNish yesterday told the Express that he had made his previous employment history at CAL known to the other incoming members and while he had reservations sitting on a public board he was persuaded to be part of the new composition because of his love for the airline.
He said he spoke with Howai yesterday morning and it was a “mutual agreement” to not go forward with the appointment given his previous tenure at the airline.
“It was a very amicable discussion. It was a good decision,” he said.
Employees at CAL had indicated their concern to the Sunday Express when McNish was selected to the board.
For his part, McNish maintained that he had a one-year employment contract at CAL and he left the company after the contract expired in July 2009.
He told the Sunday Express that the then Arthur Lok Jack board had already begun discussions with Air Jamaica (AJ) for the acquisition of its routes and they had already identified a vice president of Human Resources from AJ to take over so he departed the organisation.
“I didn’t necessarily want to continue,” he said.
The Shareholders Agreement with AJ was signed in May 2010 and the deal was finalised in June 2011.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Express understands that employee morale is at a low.
Howai has given the interim board a three-month deadline to diagnose the company’s issues and chart a way forward.
