Communications consultant, Lennox Cornette, who will take over the running of NCN on May 1st says he intends to “revolutionise” the state broadcaster and he said the signature that he was found to have forged while working at GTT had nothing to do with “financial impropriety”.
One day after Cornette’s appointment as CEO was announced it was reported that NCN Board Chairman Bishwa Panday proceeded with his appointment despite his admission that his forgery of a signature led to his exit from GTT.
In a statement to the media yesterday, Cornette stressed that “the signature issue at (GTT) had nothing to do with money or financial impropriety. It was an internal matter that was dealt with internally by (GTT). This can be attested to by the company.”
He further maintains that since his departure from GTT at the end of 1999, he has maintained “cordial relations” with the company.
In the statement, he cites being asked to chair the company’s 16th TeleGathering Meeting hosted over the Easter weekend of 2011 and the company’s support in the publication of his book `The development of Telecommunications in Guyana (1884-1994)’ as evidence of this relationship.
According to leaked email exchanges between NCN Board members, Panday defended his decision to proceed with the appointment over objections by Board member and Director of Public Information Imran Khan, who vehemently disagreed with the decision.
“I am gravely afraid of entrusting Mr Cornette with the authority of CEO at NCN, or anywhere else for that matter, in light of his admitting to what effectively constitutes fraud. Should this information become public Chair and colleagues I am afraid that we would find ourselves in extreme difficulties to defend it. In fact I cannot see how we could successfully. This is especially against the background that we do not now have the excuse of plausible deniability and would have made a deliberate judgment,” he wrote”, Khan wrote in the email.
In his statement yesterday, Cornette referred to the reports by online news sources on the concerns raised as “instigated attacks on his person” and said that having been first centred on the issue of forgery have now “descended to question [his] ability to manage the national broadcaster”.
Khan in the exchanges has raised the issue of Cornette’s lack of experience in broadcast media, which he argued is needed in light of the “myriad problems” the network faces.
“We are currently suffering from having a CEO who is unfamiliar with broadcast media and [I] fear that with Mr Cornette we are making a similar error in judgment.
I believe we need an executive head of NCN who understands the business intimately and who can be augmented with specific administrative skill sets in the areas of Human Resources, Marketing, Finance and Administration. What NCN most lacks is someone who understands broadcast media inside out. I fear that we have that person and who is also keenly interested,” he wrote.
The other credible candidate referenced by Khan is veteran broadcaster Enrico Woolford, for whom he lobbied.
Cornette however states that in relation to his ability to manage NCN that he has more than 20 years’ experience in management and executive management positions during which time he has successfully fulfilled several consultancies for national and international organisations. He further states that he has completed Masters research in the area of Strategic Marketing with focus on Corporate Identity.
According to Cornette he believes that he was favoured by the board over a candidate “preselected…outside the board” because of his submitted outline of plans to enhance the mandate of NCN.
“As CEO of NCN, I intend to revolutionise the entity. I will ensure that a good strategic plan is developed.
This plan (aims) at operational efficiency through effective coordination of the technical, administrative, programming, and marketing components of the organisation. A new corporate vision, objectives and major strategy components will be communicated to managers and employees.
One of my first endeavours will be to stop the financial hemorrhaging and boast income generation”, he stated.
