The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Credit Union will soon be leading it into a long overdue Annual General Meeting (AGM) soon, according to IMC head Trevor Benn, who says much development has taken place since the interim body was installed.
During an interview with Sunday Stabroek, Benn also refuted allegations by the GPSU, including President Patrick Yarde, that the IMC has undertaken unauthorised spending.
“I would say that we have taken the Credit Union to a new level and that is what is affecting the old management team,” he said of the recent claims. “We inherited a system where there was a committee called the Modernisation Committee where members of the Management Committee were also members and collecting stipends as both, yet we have not seen what became modern under them,” he added.
Yarde has accused the IMC of mismanagement as it relates to spending, including a decision to spend over $10 million to renovate and rehabilitate the credit union building. Yarde said no monies over $1 million can be spent without the approval of an AGM.
However, Benn said that he was unaware of any stipulation that in excess of $1 million in expenditure needed to be approved by the AGM. This, he said, was not adhered to by the Elected Management Committee (EMC) since its members would’ve spent monies in excess of that figure without going to an AGM, which hasn’t been held since 2010.
“We have not had an AGM since 2010 and the one in 2010 was birthed but was not complete. They were in power for all of this time, spending, and we have shown you in the past the amount of monies spent on travel overseas by the very group that is complaining. If that is the case then they were breaking the law,” he said.
Benn explained that the IMC, which has been in place since May of 2018, makes decisions based on consensus. It meets every month and whenever decisions are taken as a committee, they are enforced. He said that same respect was given to the EMC’s decisions, despite the IMC not agreeing with some of them.
As it relates to renovations of the building, Benn pointed out that when the IMC took over, the building was in a dilapidated condition and members of staff and the public had been complaining. As a result, the decision was taken to rehabilitate and reorganise the building.
“If you go there, it is almost a new building. That $10 million was approved by the committee of management and also the supervisory committee reviewed the contracts relating to the money spent,” he said.
The GPSU had also accused the IMC of increasing employment costs from $3.8 million to $6.9 million, as well as hiring a human resources (HR) firm for US$25,000.
Benn defended the IMC’s decision and while he could not have provided an exact figure of how much the employment cost has increased by, he admitted that it has increased significantly. However, he explained that since 1978 the credit union had a labour agreement with the Commercial and Clerical Workers Union (CCWU) that was never updated, which had resulted in many of the staff working for “less than what was reasonable.”
“So, the committee agreed to the recruitment of an HR consultant, who came in, did an assessment of the HR situation at the union, interviewed each of the staff, worked with them to bring them another level of responsibility and did a reorganisation of the credit union. So staff who used to sit in one unit might now be sitting in a different unit because they did an assessment of their skillset and on the basis of that they were assigned responsibilities,” he added.
‘Waited too long’
The GPSU also accused the IMC of unlawfully paying out dividends without holding an AGM. However, Benn explained that the members of the credit union have waited too long for their dividends, and noted that what was paid is just a fraction since they have recognised that they cannot give them the full dividend until the AGM signs off on it.
“It seems as though these guys are upset with people getting their benefits. The staff they don’t want to get increased salaries! The members of the union they don’t want to get dividends!” he said.
GPSU had also said that since the IMC took over, some 300 persons have pulled out of the credit union and withdrew over $30 million in total.
Benn refuted the claim and said that while there have been a number of resignations since the IMC took over, those were members who had requested to leave since the EMC was at the helm but whose withdrawals were not approved. However, he pointed out that since the IMC took over, the credit union has registered more than 1,200 new members and the process to get a loan is now more streamlined.
Also touching on the issue of monies being paid to the Ministry of Social Protection, Benn said that by law they are required to make payments to the Audit and Supervision Fund on the basis of completed audits.
“They had an audit which was completed for 2011, which they refused to sign off on because they didn’t want to pay the money. We signed off on it after we went through it and we were satisfied with the findings. And then up to 2014 and after that the money was calculated that we owed and we actually negotiated and paid a reduction,” he said.
Prior to the installation of the IMC, the credit union’s management had accused Junior Social Protection Minister Keith Scott of “financial bullyism” after he requested that the union pay over $49 million in retroactive contributions to an Audit and Supervision Fund for the years 2002 to 2013. The credit union held that it had been granted a waiver by former Minister of Labour Nanda Gopaul and had said that Scott was obstructing the release of the 2011 to 2013 audit reports, therefore, blocking the holding of its AGM, and as a result, the payment of dividends to members. It was also stated that the ministry refused to audit the 2014 to 2016 records.
Benn added that it is time that the GPSU stops castigating the IMC since its members have the interest of the credit union members at heart. “We are trying to bring all of the audits up to date and we are trying to make sure that the union’s staff are able to take on the work of the credit union in a sustainable way before we go forward. I don’t see that happening maybe ’til another few months and then we should have an AGM,” he said, while noting that he doubts the IMC’s tenure would extend to another year.
Yarde, at a meeting with members of the union, had also pointed out that they received a response from President David Granger stating that an investigation would be launched into the IMC and would be headed by Minister of Public Service Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.
However, Benn noted that he doesn’t know of any such letter and he has received no communication about any investigations. “Our works speak for itself. Our record speaks for itself,” he said, while emphasising that the IMC will lead the credit union into a long awaited AGM.
