By Dreylan Johnson
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) plans to hold its elections tomorrow after a judge discharged an injunction that had barred it from proceeding without presenting information on its finances.
Although Justice Nareshwar Harnanan discharged the injunction yesterday, after the union said it presented evidence that included income and expenditure statements up to December 31, 2016, a group challenging the union’s executive is maintaining that holding elections so soon may not be possible if due process is followed.
The decision to discharge the injunction was made after midday yesterday by Justice Harnanan, just five days after he would have ordered an interim injunction against GPSU’s executive council postponing the elections by nearly two weeks unless it could produce the treasurer’s report for the past 12 years and the Auditor General’s (AG) report that was reportedly presented to them. The elections were initially scheduled for this past Monday, April 24.
Yesterday, First Vice President Mortimer Livan and Second Vice President Dawn Gardner made an appearance in chambers before Justice Harnanan at the High Court in Georgetown, where they, represented by the union’s attorney Roysdale Forde, submitted financial statements to the court.
According to a press release issued by the GPSU last evening, Justice Harnanan had found, after hearing submissions and reviewing the evidence presented, that allegations made against the union claiming it was non-compliant with the union’s rules and with the obligations outlined in the Trade Union Act were “erroneous and misconceived.”
It was further stated that the submissions made by Forde included evidence that the AG had been in receipt of the union’s audited accounts up until 2005 and the Income and Expenditure Statements and Balance Sheets up until December 31, 2016.
Furthermore, it was stated that the AG is in possession of the draft financial statements for the years 2006 to 2016, which have been submitted for audit.
Also attached to the press release was a letter, dated Monday, April 24th, signed by the Auditor General, which verified that the last audit done on the GPSU’s account was in December 2003, that the audit for the years 2004 and 2005 were completed and that letters were issued on November 4, 2016 relating to same, but a response to the findings is still being awaited.
“Both Mr. Gregory Gaspar and his instigator Mr. Jermain Hermanstyne were fully aware of these facts but deliberately set out to publicly misrepresent them for personal and petty reasons. They also advocated that their backward views should supersede rights of members in accordance with the rules of the Union. Investigations would reveal that both Mr. Gasper and Mr. Hermanstyne were amongst the poorest performers and achievers as members in the Guyana Public Service Union,” the GPSU release said.
Meanwhile, after the hearing yesterday, Forde noted that the application filed by Gaspar was predicated on an apparent misfeasance or abuse on the part of the executives or unwillingness to file and comply with the financial requirements of the union’s rules and regulations. “In fact it has not been so. The union has complied to the best of its ability with filing the necessary financial statements with the registrar of trade unions, as required by the Trade Union Act, and they’re also in accordance with the Trade Union Act and its own regulations and over the years would have submitted the necessary financial records to the Auditor General,” he said.
“The Auditor General, unfortunately, was not able to have all the audits done for all the years for which some question have been put before the court and therefore it is not an issue that the Guyana Public Service Union, as a trade union, has been delinquent in filing its returns or filing financial records to the Auditor General or the registrar of the trade union. Those pieces of information would have been available for public knowledge and rather than filing a court appeal, it would have been available for them to go have access to rather than filing a whole court action,” Forde added.
According to the GPSU release, the elections officer has been advised that he can proceed with elections and he, along with supporting staff, are “working assiduously to hold the Elections on Thursday 27th April, 2017.” It further stated that a circular has been issued to all members urging them to participate in the elections despite the inconvenience caused.
According to attorney Nigel Hughes, however, GPSU cannot proceed with the elections until it follow the procedures for holding them.
Hughes, who filed the challenge to the executive on behalf of Gaspar, related that the judge had discharged the injunction because he “did not want to hold up the running of the union” and with the knowledge that the body is still to present a defence to allegations raised against it.
The application against the GPSU executive members, filed approximately two weeks ago before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, accused the members of failing to properly manage the union in accordance with its rules and called for the council to be suspended until they could produce the Treasurer’s reports and/or the Auditor General’s reports for 2004 to 2017 and table them at this April’s Biennial Delegates’ Conference.
That matter is set to be heard on May 10.
Hughes noted that the documents presented to the AG were only a draft form, not yet audited, and his clients pointed out yesterday that none of the documents were signed by a Treasurer. Rather, they bore the signatures of the President, General Secretary and two trustees.
Furthermore, the members of the group protesting against GPSU President Patrick Yarde and the rest of his executive council raised concerns that the union would once again breach the rules outlined in the rule book, which states that the final list of nominees must be circulated “to all branches and the general membership by way or circulars and public notice(s) in one or all of the daily newspapers, at least two clear weeks before the date of elections”.
However, it should be noted that a circular of notification was published in the March 30th edition of the Stabroek News, with the list of nominees for the union’s executive council, and informed that in alignment with rule 30 e (II), nominees may withdraw their candidacy within seven days of the publication or else their names will appear on the ballot paper.
