The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has dispatched a letter to President David Granger requesting a Board of Inquiry into their credit union following accusations that the Interim Management Committee (IMC) was spending large sums of money without proper authorisation.
This was revealed yesterday afternoon by head of the GPSU Patrick Yarde at a press conference at the union’s headquarters.
Yarde charged that the IMC is currently abusing its authority and referenced reports in the media from distressed members of the credit union who had been expressing their frustration.
He said that based on those complaints, coupled with several they have received from members asking them to intervene, the GPSU decided to call the press conference after the issues were ventilated at their statutory executive meeting earlier in the day.
“We would like the members of the credit union to know that we are 100 per cent behind them in ensuring that their hard-earned savings remain intact. Or if it is beyond that stage, to be recovered,” he said, while noting that he wanted to clearly highlight to the public the unauthorised expenditure that has been incurred by the IMC.
In May last year, the Chief Co-operatives Development Officer seized control of the credit union from the Management Committee, saying that it had ignored previous urgings to abide by the law. An IMC was installed but some members of the GPSU have bitterly opposed this move.
Yarde yesterday said that a number of contracts have been awarded to companies and individuals without going through the proper procurement procedures, including the award of a contract in excess of $10 million for construction work.
That, he said, could only be approved by an Annual General Meeting (AGM) decision. He also pointed out that the AGM had set a $1 million limit on spending and anything over that had to be approved by the AGM.
Another contract worth US$25,000 ($5.2 million) was also reportedly awarded for human resources activity, which, he said, is ridiculous.
Yarde also highlighted that a $2 million contract was awarded for air conditioning, a $2.5 million contract was awarded for a telephone system and a contract worth $1.6 million was awarded for reviewing the security systems.
“When the management committee was removed in May last year, the employment cost was $3.8 million. In April this year, the employment cost has increased to $6.9 million,” Yarde added.
400 members
He said that even though the employment costs have increased massively, members are still frustrated by the process of getting loans and the insensitive system, and, as a result, over 400 members have already resigned, withdrawing over $38 million of savings.
“There is information, and we are still investigating, where $6 million was paid in bonuses. The amount we know is accurate and we will complete the investigation and know precisely what it is paid for. They have also introduced a contract gratuity payment for staff of approximately $10 to $15 million per year,” he said. The union leader said that they were also informed that 10 persons would be travelling to The Bahamas in the coming weeks to attend a conference at a cost to the credit union of over $10 million.
As a result, Yarde said that the GPSU took a decision to dispatch a letter to Granger asking him to mount a Board of Inquiry into the affairs of the credit union since it is now under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Social Protection.
When questioned about evidence to support the union’s claims, Yarde said, “We have sufficient evidence. And we dare you, or we dare the credit union to say anything that I’ve mentioned here to you today is not accurate. We dare them.”
As it relates to actions by the GPSU in the event that there is no development resulting from their request to Granger, he said they have been speaking to their members who are calling for protests but have been avoiding such avenues given the current political climate.
However, he noted that they will continue moving around and speaking to their members and if they are of the view that regardless of what prevails then they should go out to deal with the matter, then they will.
Zoomed in
Yarde also zoomed in on Minister within the Minis-try of Social Protection with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott, and claimed that the dispute has roots in the union’s refusal to pay approximately $50 million to the ministry as audit and supervision fees.
“There was an agreement with the previous minister that the credit union keep that money because it is funds for audit, supervision and development and that the credit union conducts the audit and pay for it. That was approved by the ministry and there was no dispute about that, and that we report on the development process,” Yarde said.
He said that Scott wanted to cancel the agreement retroactively and was demanding that the money be paid, which the GPSU refused.
“He then reduced the amount by 50 per cent and we refused because there was an agreement that the credit union was the custodian of the money. And even if the ministry had the money, it could only be used in the interest of the credit union,” he said.
Yarde added that since the removal of the Elected Management Committee last year, he has been advised that over $25 million has been paid over to the ministry, which, he said, could not be done until after the presentation of audit reports to the AGM for approval.
However, these reports have not been presented and Yarde said that they are asking for an urgent response from the Ministry of Social Protection, since they have also been informed that audit reports from 2011 to 2017 have been completed.
Yarde also questioned the granting of an extension to the IMC, which, he said, should not have been done given that any IMC should only be in place for a year at best.
