The services of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, Lelon Saul were yesterday terminated with immediate effect and he says he finds it incomprehensible that government can sanction the firing of the head of an independent corporation.
“My services was terminated from the 25th of August 2020, that is today,” Saul told Stabroek News when contacted.
“That [his employment] has nothing to do with the executive arm of government. It is a Board that runs the CHPA because CHPA is a body corporate,” he contended.
In June of 2016, Saul replaced Myrna Pitt, who stepped down as the CEO of the Central Housing and Planning Authority.
The retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Guyana Defence Force explained that he applied for the CEO position at the CH&PA back in 2017, “… just like anybody else” and went through a rigorous process where he came out successfully.
He disclosed that his contract ended in February of this year but he had indicated to the Board in January, that he wanted to continue in his post.
One day before the March 2nd General Elections, his contract was renewed for three years, coming to an end on the last day of February 2023.
Asked why he would enter into a new contract while the country was on the verge of elections and had a government which had been in caretaker status since the 2018 No Confidence Motion, Saul defended his rehiring saying that it was done on merit and that politics should not impact the decision.
“What [does] a political impasse have to do with [the] CH&PA? As a corporate body, Lelon Saul applied, was interviewed through a competitive process in 2017. You can read the Housing Act as it relates to CH&PA, it a body corporate,” he emphasised.
“The vacancy was advertised, several persons were interviewed, and I was successful. My first contract was coming to an end and I asked the Board in January for it to be renewed. Again this has nothing to do with the executive arm of a government. So whatever was happening with the political impasse had nothing to do with me,” he added.
But Attorney General Anil Nandlall submitted that Saul’s contract was terminated within the laws of this country and that the very Act he [Saul] refers to does not even list a post of Chief Executive Officer.
“The office of Chief Executive Officer is not created under the CH&PA Act, in fact, there is no mention in the act of a CEO. His appointment was made by the Board of that authority under its statutory powers to appoint persons to assist in the administration of the authority. He was under a previous contract which was apparently renewed by the Secretary of the Board on the 1st day of March 2020. That contract provides for its termination with one month’s notice. The Board was dissolved by the Minister exercising his statutory powers on Monday 24th August 2020, thereby leaving no one from the Board authorised to terminate the contract,” Nandlall told this newspaper.
“The Minister, who is authorised to administer the Act, exercised those powers in terminating his contract, duly giving him one month’s notice in compliance with the contract. Most significantly, it is quite irresponsible for any statutory Board to appoint a CEO on the day before a national election for a period of three years. It is as if that Board intended to impose a CEO on the new administration, which the law nor realpolitik would countenance. No doubt, the Minister acted lawfully in compliance with the contract as well as the provisions of the CH&PA Act,” he argued.
Saul when asked if he would seek legal action since he believes his firing was unlawful, would only say, “Tomorrow the sun will rise and I will be there to see the rising of the sun… the earth will continue to rotate.”
Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the changes being made at his Ministry are in keeping with the PPP/C Government’s mandate of providing the best services to all Guyanese.
Croal asserted that Saul’s termination is in keeping with his contract.
“We have looked at the entire Ministry, and Central Housing plays an important aspect in our housing drive and to ensure that we have delivery of more homes and house lots across the country,” Croal told DPI.
He said after reviewing what has been happening at the agency in recent years, from the ministry level, “we believe we need to change the leadership and have a different focus and to have performance.”
“A decision was taken in keeping with the contract, he has been relieved of that responsibility”.
The minister said the name of the new CEO will be announced in due course.
