Geeta Chandan-Edmond, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL), resigned yesterday after Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo directed that the decision to fire Sherod Duncan from the post of General Manager of the state-owned Guyana Chronicle be rescinded even as she maintained that due process was followed.
In a letter to Chandan-Edmond, dated May 31st and seen by Stabroek News, Nagamootoo accused her of unilaterally deciding to terminate Duncan’s services and misleading his office by claiming it was a decision of the board.
“It should be clear that asking members of the Board their views on a situation does not amount to a vote,” Nagamootoo wrote after indicating that other members of the board had informed him that no vote was taken.
“Making a unilateral decision to terminate Mr. Duncan was arbitrary, capricious, unlawful and in excess of the jurisdiction of the Board. Further, I am concerned that you have misled the Office of the Prime Minister with the erroneous claim that the Board of Directors came to this decision. It is clear that you deliberately sought to terminate Mr. Duncan without following the prescribed procedures and further, misleading this Office,” he added, before directing that the decision to terminate Duncan’s employment be rescinded.
In directing the reversal of the decision, Nagamootoo said he could not rely on Chandan-Edmond’s advice that the sacking of Duncan accorded with due process and procedural fairness.
The letter was copied to acting General Manager Michael Gordon and Duncan’s lawyer, James Bond.
At least one other director, Mervyn Williams, who had also been in favour of Duncan’s sacking, has also indicated that he would resign over Nagamootoo’s decision. Efforts to reach Hilbert Foster, the other director who had supported the decision to dismiss Duncan, were unsuccessful.
For his part, Duncan indicated that he had “no comment on the situation at this time.”
Williams told Stabroek News, “I have indicated that I shall resign. My letter will be submitted this afternoon [Tuesday].”
He went on to note that the board made a decision after a long and transparent process and he could not continue to serve under circumstances which would disregard that process.
“The board took a vote and the majority decided, based on the findings of the Auditor General’s report, to terminate Mr Duncan’s services. There were no dissenting views from anyone around the table at the time of the vote,” he explained.
Asked to address claims that there was no vote called, Williams emphatically stated that there was a vote.
This is the second time in 15 months that there has been multiple resignations from the GNNL board. In March 2018, four directors resigned in protest at a decision by Editor in Chief (EiC) Nigel Williams to discontinue columns written by trade unionist Lincoln Lewis and political scientist David Hinds. Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Bert Wilkinson, Karen Davis and Ruel Johnson, who had served as board members since 2015, tendered their resignations as a result of the decision.
Ethics
Chandan-Edmond’s response to Nagamootoo, which was made public last evening, also maintained the position that a vote was taken.
“When I accepted the position of Chair of the Board of Directors of Guyana National Newspapers Limited, it was with the understanding that my professionalism and integrity would not be unfairly assailed. I find that your letter not only calls into question my professionalism but the professionalism of fellow members of the Board of GNNL. In light of this, I hereby submit my resignation as Chairman of the Board of Directors, with immediate effect, since I believe I cannot continue to act at the level of ethics that you clearly require of the position,” she wrote in a response yesterday to Nagamootoo’s letter.
Her letter also addresses the two main accusations made by Nagamootoo.
On the issue of procedural impropriety, Chandan-Edmond, a former magistrate, maintained that all relevant provisions, particularly the provisions of Article 94, were adhered to at all times in spirit and letter throughout the process that led to Duncan’s dismissal.
Article 94 states, among other things, that “Questions arising at any meeting shall be decided by a majority of votes. In cases of an equality of votes the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.”
“…I rely on my report to you into this matter and reiterate, that the process was fair and transparent, there was due process and all principles of natural justice were adhered to,” she stressed. “Your correspondence sought to discredit this process by making reference to information bordering on hearsay from persons you refer to merely as ‘Directors of GNNL’ with absolutely no reference to who those directors are and no record of their submissions in this regard. I respectfully submit, that we cannot effect policy decision at this institution of national consequence on such an inconsequential basis,” Chandan-Edmond, an attorney and former magistrate, added.
In relation to Nagamootoo’s claim that Duncan’s termination was “arbitrary, capricious, unlawful and in excess of the jurisdiction of the Board,” Chandan-Edmond submitted that this characterisation is not only insulting and injurious to her integrity and the other directors who voted for Duncan’s dismissal but is not reflective of the reality of the process.
She reminded that over a period of six months Duncan was accused in the media of financial impropriety and mismanagement, that the information unearthed by a Board investigation warranted the involvement of the office of the Auditor General, that Duncan was sent on administrative leave to facilitate the audit and during this time he was paid in full, and that the report from the State Auditor found multiple violations of financial procedure and questionable transactions as were documented in a report to the board. She maintained that Duncan was afforded all the tenets of natural justice, including a board hearing, during which he was allowed to be accompanied by an attorney-at-law. “In brief, not only was the process that led to Mr. Duncan’s dismissal exceedingly thorough in terms of due process but his dismissal comes under the express jurisdiction of the Board of Directors,” she concluded.
Duncan’s services were terminated with immediate effect in April following a meeting at which Chandan-Edmond cast the deciding vote.
A statement released after the meeting explained that “all Directors who were present were of the view that the numerous breaches identified in the report in all areas under review were serious in nature and that some form of disciplinary action against the General Manager was necessary, especially given the fact that he was on probation.”
The statement revealed that one director recommended a one-month suspension and an extension of the period of probation, while two directors recommended an extension of the period of probation. Three directors held the view that Duncan’s services should be terminated with immediate effect for ‘gross misconduct.’ The Board comprises a Chairperson and six directors, one of whom was absent at the time of the vote. As a result, following the call for a vote on the matter of termination of services, the statement said three directors voted against, while three voted in favour of termination, thereby resulting in a tie. Chandan-Edmond then exercised her right to a casting vote in favour of termination of services, the statement said.
Duncan’s lawyer, Bond, later told Stabroek News that an appeal would be filed with the Office of the Prime Minister. He claimed that there were at least three grounds for appeal, chief among them being that “there was no formal vote” by the board.
“We are appealing. The Auditor General’s report never envisaged dismissal of anyone. The breaches identified were minor and all but two of the matters were financial. These fell under the finance officer, not Mr. Duncan,” Bond explained, while noting that while a number of issues were flagged, few were directly under the purview of Duncan.
At least two members of the seven-member Board agreed with Bond’s position that a vote was never done.
Directors Juretha Fernandes and Beverly Alert, both of the Alliance for Change (AFC) where Duncan holds a senior post, indicated that at no point during the meeting was a motion for a vote put before the Board.
Nagamootoo had previously ordered a full investigation into mismanagement at the GNNL under Duncan’s tenure as General Manager between 1st June, 2018 and 10th September, 2018. The Board, in accordance with this directive, had enlisted the services of the Office of the Auditor General. A special audit on the overall management and governance of GNNL in the areas of financial management, human resource management and administrative management for that period was, therefore, done.
The audit had found that tender rules were flouted; services were acquired by the company without contracts; and payments were made on invoices with inadequate details, without passage through established approval process and on invoices that had no mark of authentication, such as business stamps or signature.
Additionally, cash advances given to Duncan for overseas and local travel were still to be cleared, as he had not provided the necessary documents to support expenditure. It was also noted that the company’s personnel policy and procedures manual were ignored during the recruitment, termination and dismissal of several employees.
The brouhaha over Duncan can have wider political implications as it can be perceived to be a case of the Prime Minister – who represents the AFC – protecting a fellow AFC member and particularly in the run up to a party conference where Nagamootoo is in a battle to be nominated to be his party’s prime ministerial candidate.
Chandan-Edmond is a legal advisor in the Ministry of the Presidency and has high visibility in the administration.
