Bharat Dindyal has been let go as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) after an ongoing clash with his deputy, whom he had accused of overstepping his authority by trying to send senior managers on leave and forcibly removing them from company offices.
The government yesterday announced that Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, who was drawn into the conflict during an expletive-laced tirade by Dindyal that was uploaded on social media, advised Cabinet on Thursday evening to end the CEO’s engagement with GPL as of Friday.
In a statement, government said that Patterson reached the decision after examining several factors, including his own performance appraisal and Dindyal’s “intervention” in staff matters, some of which was video recorded and viewed on social media. It noted that Dindyal’s substantive contract had come to an end on December 31st, 2014 and it was not renewed. However, Dindyal continued to serve as GPL CEO based on what was described as “an understanding” between himself and the previous subject minister, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
The statement added that no written documentation has been provided with regard to the arrangement, which was supposed to have lasted for six months until June 30th, 2015. It further said Dindyal communicated to Patterson that he intended to part ways with GPL but was prepared to remain as CEO for an interim transition period.
A subsequent announcement is to follow on GPL’s administrative leadership.
Efforts to contact Dindyal for a comment yesterday were unsuccessful.
Dindyal’s sacking followed days of confrontation between him and his Deputy CEO (Technical) Colin Welch over how accusations against senior managers should be dealt with.
Prior to yesterday’s announcement, Dindyal, in an interview with Stabroek News, had said that he had appointed a three-person team to investigate Welch’s accusations against two managers. Welch, in the company of police, had attempted to remove the managers from the premises of GPL’s Sheriff Street offices. Welch could not be contacted by Stabroek News for comment.
Dindyal said the team was to have commenced its work on Thursday and was given three weeks to present a report to him on whether the DCEO was within his right to send anyone on administrative leave.
Dindyal noted that following the initial incident last week Friday, Welch on Monday, with police ranks in tow, again attempted to serve Senior Loss Reduction Manager Loaknauth Singh and Senior Investigator David Kaladin with letters placing them on leave.
The CEO said he was once again called down to the Sheriff Street office by concerned workers, who were worried that the police were entering the building for internal matters.
Dindyal said it was absolutely ridiculous that Welch would once again try to overstep his jurisdiction after he had overturned the earlier decision for want of evidence. Dindyal said the company’s bylaws have provisions in place and that the DCEO was not the one mandated to address matters that were under the remit of the Human Resources Department.
The two senior managers were sent on administrative leave by the DCEO last Friday while he was accompanied by police ranks who were apparently to physically remove the two men from their offices. Dindyal said he was notified of the “frightening” situation by staffers and subsequently showed up and overturned the DCEO’s decision.
Dindyal said any issue with staff as it relates to ongoing investigations were internal matters and that there was nothing in the company bylaws that would allow for police to be called in to scare staffers.
He said Welch’s actions went against the collective bargaining agreement with the Guyana Public Service Union and that he could not fathom how the DCEO thought it was appropriate to “march into someone’s office with police,” to physically remove them without the jurisdiction to do so.
“Although we are a government agency, we are configured as a private company. So, there are rules and regulations and everything we do is within the confines of the law,” Dindyal stated.
He said when he arrived at the location last Friday, he ripped up the letters which were delivered by Welch requesting Singh and Kaladin be placed on administrative leave. Only one of the men was at the location at the time.
The CEO told Stabroek News that Welch had stated that Minister Patterson had given him the go-ahead to act. “The minister contacted me and I alerted the minister. I said ‘Minister, Mr Welch cannot go into somebody’s office, evict them and send them off on administrative leave and claim the information against them. It breaches everything that we stand for in terms of procedures,’” Dindyal stated.
When asked why he did not take action against the DCEO for insubordination, Dindyal stated, “in the absence of a board I would prefer not to put it to Minister Patterson, who the gentleman says is supporting his actions.”
Dindyal added, “Mr Welch was not recruited by GPL. He was handed to GPL, a position was created for him, supposedly he was some kind of an expert… Mr Welch has turned out to be of no real value.”
Meanwhile, Patterson told Stabroek News that it was “absolute garbage” that he was advocating on behalf of Welch. He said the DCEO was well within his right as the head of technical services to send persons on leave if he was investigating any instances of impropriety. When asked if he thought the DCEO acted appropriately by calling in police ranks, the minister stated that he would rather not comment. “The man is the DCEO appointed.
I have inherited him,” he said, while adding that many of the issues were ongoing long before he became minister. Patterson said Welch should be allowed to conduct his work and added that he has not interfered at all with the day-to-day operations at GPL since assuming office.
Patterson also stated that he regrets the way in which the controversy has been playing out in the media and he did not want to get involved as it was an internal issue that needed to be worked about between the CEO and the DCEO.
Patterson at the time did not give any indication as to whether he would be intervening and when the new Board of Directors would be appointed and which could bring a resolution to the conflict between Dindyal and his deputy. The other Deputy CEO of GPL Aeshwar Deonarine has been sent on leave in an unrelated matter.
