Presidential adviser Professor Clive Thomas is tipped to be the Chairman of the new GuySuCo Board of Directors, which would also include union leader Seepaul Narine and industry expert Anthony Vieira.
Thomas was last month appointed Presidential Adviser on Sustainable Development.
Stabroek News has also been informed of imminent changes to the boards of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) as well as Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The establishment of the new GuySuCo board comes in the midst of an industry crisis and an ongoing commission of inquiry appointed to investigate the state of the industry and to craft a plan to return it to profitability and ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
Both Thomas and Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) General Secretary Seepaul Narine are current members of the commission of inquiry. GAWU has long sought a seat on the GuySuCo board and it criticised the previous government for shutting it out.
Vieira, a one-time parliamentarian and former Houston/Versailles Estates shareholder and manager, has been a frequent critic of the mismanagement of the industry. Other members expected to be on the new board are former GuySuCo Human Resources Director Earl John; attorney Adrian Anamayah; Agriculture Ministry Permanent Secretary George Jervis; and Ministry of Finance representative Louisa Bouyea. There are also to be nominees from the Attorney General’s Chambers as well as the opposition PPP/C.
The previous board of the corporation was asked to resign last month and its Chief Executive Officer Dr Rajendra Singh, who had headed the board prior to his appointment, was sacked. Their dismissals followed a request for $16 billion to avert an industry-wide shut down and which was seen as evidence of the poor management by both the CEO and the Board.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News has learnt that the NPTAB would be headed by Claude Brooks, with Lavern Lawrence as Vice-Chair. Others pegged as board members are Trevor Baird, Bernard Lord, Ron Rahaman, Thomas Nestor and Anala Grant-Williams.
In the absence of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), the NPTAB is responsible for overseeing public sector procurement. However, there have been persistent accusations against the former PPP/C administration that it interfered in the work of the board. Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, in his Accountability Watch column in Stabroek News earlier this year, had noted that with the non-establishment of the PPC, there has been no oversight of the work of the NPTAB whose members are appointed by the Minister of Finance. “The NPTAB therefore lacks the much-needed independence to discharge its responsibilities,” he wrote.
In the case of government holding company NICIL, Finance Minister Winston Jordan is the new board chairman, with Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Dr Berkley Wickham, Dr Maurice Odle and Sonya Roopnauth as directors. Roopnauth, who represents the Budget Office of the Ministry of Finance, has been a director since 2007. Since 2002, the board has always been headed by the Finance Minister and the Head of the Presidential Secretariat—a portfolio currently held by Harmon—has always been a director.
The board of AHI, the parent company of the Marriott Hotel that was previously headed by Winston Brassington, is to be headed by Beverley Harper, with Derrick Cummings, Patricia Bacchus, Hughley Nelson and Lawrence London as board members.
Minister Harmon had previously announced that the given the fact that the hotel was controversially built with funds belonging to taxpayers, the ownership will be reflected in a different kind of board. He had described it as a “different composition” and added that it is persons who the public recommends who are going to be in charge of the board until “such time that the government comes up with a final decision as to how to dispose of this asset.” Harmon said that government made it clear that it is not interested in running or getting involved in the hotel business and it is not the business of government to be running any hotel.
The NIS, which like GuySuCo has faced a financial crises in recent years with its payouts exceeding contributions, is to be headed by Dr Surendra Persaud. NIS General Manager Doreen Nelson is to be Deputy Chair and members will include attorney and accountant Christopher Ram, Keith Cholmondeley, Deryck Rodney, Kathleen Jason, Carol Corbin and representatives of the private sector, the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industry Limited (CAGI), and the Trade Union Congress.
Stabroek News has also learnt that Rawle Lucas will head the GRA board, with Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur, Bank of Guyana Governor Dr Gobind Ganga, Roopnauth, Chief Statistician Lennox Benjamin and Jermaine Grant as members. In addition, attorney Tracey Gibson is said to be the person who will head the VAT Appeal Tribunal, with Nizam Ali, former New Building Society CEO Maurice Arjoon and a PPP/C nominee as other members.
