Board Chair of the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) Board of Directors Nigel Hinds is expected to resign from his position following ongoing issues with the corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Richard Van West Charles, who, according to sources, continues to act “as a law onto himself,” which results in senior staff members being barred from functioning in their positions effectively.
Sources close to Hinds yesterday informed this newspaper that he would be tendering his resignation to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan. However, when contacted, Hinds, who last week had spoken out against the behaviour of Van West Charles, said he would offer no comment on the issue.
According to information reaching this newspaper, it appears that the board, which had reportedly launched an investigation into the CEO’s actions, is unable to take any disciplinary action against him and even if it were, there are some members who would be against such a course of action.
It is understood that Hinds had wanted a motion to be moved by the board to recommend to Bulkan that the CEO be sent on administrative leave pending an investigation. The motion was later amended to having the affected senior staff be given a hearing before any decision is taken.
Three of the board members—Carol Joseph (who was instrumental in barring the Region Five’s Chairman convening a statutory meeting for months over his failure to apologise to President David Granger for not attending a function where the President was present), Ryan Belgrave and Mayor Patricia Chase-Green—are members of the PNCR. Joseph was voted onto the party’s central executive arm at the party’s last election while Belgrave is executive member of the party’s youth arm and Chase-Green contested the local government elections on the party’s ticket.
It is believed that because the CEO is the son-law of the PNC’s late founder Forbes Burnham—though he had also later joined the AFC—those party officials might not sanction any disciplinary actions being taken against him.
The other members of the board are Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communities Emil McGarrell, David Dewar, Christina Bissessar and Savitri Singh Sharma.
Another board member, geotechnical engineer and groundwater hydrologist Charles Ceres, resigned earlier this year and while Van West Charles had said it had nothing to do with him, sources yesterday confirmed that it was because of differences with the CEO that Ceres resigned.
This newspaper was unable to speak to Ceres but according to reliable information the two might have had a “blow up” before Ceres resigned.
“No not at all… I have no conflict with Charles. He tendered his resignation to the board. I have no conflict with him,” Van West Charles had recently said when the matter was put to him.
Work out their differences
While it is not clear if this is being done, according to sources the government wants the Chairman and the CEO to work out their differences and for the corporation’s work to continue. But it was pointed out that the CEO is not suited for the position and based on the overwhelming evidence he should be sacked.
Reports are that senior staff members of GWI have tirelessly complained about the actions of the CEO, including him purportedly superseding the authority of various department heads and in one case even renaming a department without informing the person who was in charge of it.
There is also the issue of GWI’s intention to use a substance, believed to be unsafe, to test water for household use.
“There is the issue of abuse of authority and it still continues… [The] majority of GWI senior staff members have made some very serious complaints against the CEO,” Hinds had told this newspaper last week when contacted.
He had also confirmed that he and the CEO were expected to have a meeting with a Cabinet sub-committee.
From reports reaching this newspaper, the government is not in favour of sacking the CEO which some believe would further embolden him and make the working environment for more than half of the senior staff difficult.
The hiring of Van West-Charles had raised some concerns since the position was not advertised. According to new information reaching this newspaper, he was recommended by Cabinet for the position and this was ratified by the Board of Directors.
The Board recently was forced to terminate the employment of Debt Recovery Manager Lear Goring, who was not qualified for that position. Goring, who is a convicted drug felon, is a friend of the CEO and was hired without the position being advertised.
Apart from Goring, James King, another close friend of Van West-Charles, was employed as deputy security officer without the post being advertised. It is also understood that King’s position was not even in the established structure of GWI. Sources had expressed disquiet after King was employed shortly after he had accompanied Van West-Charles on an outreach to Berbice and was introduced as the friend of the CEO.
Meanwhile, a senior manager had complained bitterly about being called “unwilling, deaf and cantankerous” whenever she disagreed with the CEO in meetings and she described the name calling as “highly offensive, [and] completely unprofessional.
“I no longer feel free to express my opinions and contribute to the discussions,” she had written in a letter of complaint.
Another manager has complained about being told by the CEO that she is “mentally ill” and that she needs to seek professional help.
Meantime, Van West-Charles sits on the Board of Atlantic Fuel Inc, which was recently granted a licence to import and sell fuel. The CEO also sits on other boards, which he had not disclosed to the GWI Board and had even sought a legal opinion which stated that he was not obligated to do same.
Hinds had disagreed with that position and pointed out that should GWI enter into business arrangements with any of those companies, then the issue of conflict of interest would surface. “I am dealing with someone who is not being objective,” Hinds had said last week.
