A showdown looms today at the statutory meeting of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union (GPSCCU) as key members are maintaining that their motion to boot Chairman Trevor Benn was successfully passed but Benn has dug in his heels and insists that he remains the substantive holder of the post.
On Monday, management committee secretary, Gillian Pollard, told a meeting of the credit union that the committee no longer supports Benn’s leadership and that he released confidential information while appearing on social media shows. This, the committee members said was a breach of the rules governing the credit union.
And according to Committee Member, Jermaine Hermanstine, “All twelve members of the Management Committee, we signed a confidentiality agreement that you cannot go public and discuss anything [and] in our opinion some of the things that Trevor Benn discussed out there publicly he did not give us an opportunity to sit as a board to say that okay – this is my concern and these are the concerns that I have. We did not get an opportunity to deliberate on those things.”
Another Committee Member, Leslyn Noble, pointed out that the actions of the management committee are for the benefit of all members.
“This decision was made in the best interest of the members so that our members might have what you call prosperous economic and social development at the Credit Union,” he said.
However, Benn during an engagement with the media outside of the GPSCCU building on Hadfield Street on Monday, labelled the move against him as a “coup d’état.”
Up to Monday, the committee was unable to serve Benn with the notice informing him to step down as chairman. During his engagement with the press, this newspaper observed an office assistant, supervised by Pollard, attempting to serve him the notice, but Benn refused to accept the document. He told the office assistant that he was speaking with the press and could not deal with the document.
When questioned as to what his next move was, Benn responded that he is consulting with the general members and will be guided by their wishes.
There is likely to be a showdown when the committee holds its statutory meeting today at 10 am.
In a letter dated May 4, Chief Co-operative Development Offi-cer (CCDO), Debbie Persaud, wrote to Pollard, and informed her of the decision which was taken at a special committee meeting.
“Please be informed that the motion of no confidence against the Chairman Mr. Trevor Benn tabled at the Special Meeting of the Committee on the 21st April, 2022 is hereby acknowledged… Against this backdrop the said motion is tabled and voted by ten (10) members in favor of the motion to remove Trevor Benn as Chairman is hereby sanctioned,” Persaud said in her letter.
She went on to state that in the interim, the Vice Chairman of the committee is to perform the duties of chairman and that the committee should elect a chairman as soon as possible.
Benn however, argued that the advice of the CCDO is ill-conceived as he was not given a hearing to allow for natural justice.
Illegal on all fronts
“It is illegal on all fronts and for the CCDO to enforce that decision, it is illegal and undemocratic.”
Pollard in her opening remarks on Monday stated that the relationship between the committee and Benn began to slide after he lobbied members of the Board to have him hold both the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Credit Union. The secretary of the Board disclosed that the suggestion was voted against since it was felt he would have been answerable only to himself and given ultimate power and unhindered authority.
However, Benn on Monday stated that it was never his intention to hold the post permanently, and he had explained to the committee that it was a temporary arrangement. He noted that there is currently a hearing in court on the transition from Secretary General to CEO.
He also noted that he did not apply for the CEO’s position on the grounds that if he was successful, he would have been required to relinquish his post as a Committee of Management member, which he had no wish to do.
“It seems as though this whole issue is because one man can’t be in charge. Just because he cannot be the Chairman and CEO and that is what is causing this issue. This is what is really causing the problem. This is a man because he cannot have his way, he gone out there and talk a whole bunch of crap,” declared a visibly angry Hermanstine.
Addressing Benn’s absence from the meeting where the motion of no confidence was tabled, Pollard in her statement on Monday said that calls to Benn’s phone to inform him of the meeting went unanswered.
She stated that in their WhatsApp group, a notice of an emergency meeting was posted. There was no acknowledgement from Benn. Asked about this notice, Benn said he had ceased checking messages from the group since topics of no relevance were being discussed.
“The message was seeking to have an emergency meeting sanctioned by the secretary. A quorum voted in favour of the suggestion and the Secretary who is legally authorised to convene such a meeting, recognised that a majority of the directors wanted the meeting and agreed to the request and therefore she called a meeting on April 21, 2022 in the credit union board room. All of the directors attended the meeting with the exception of Mr. Trevor Benn and the Vice Chairman,” Pollard explained.
It was later pointed out that prior to the motion being tabled, Benn was not given a hearing by those members concerned nor the opportunity to respond to the allegations made by members.
Benn on Monday listed a number of possible motives behind the motion. He stated that at the last AGM (annual general meeting), a motion was put forward for the installation of an ATM service, but the committee voted against it citing a financial imbalance at the union.
He also said that he had opposed management members attending international conferences in Jamaica and Scotland, which would have cost approximately US$5,000 per participant.
“The committee was told if we are saying we cannot afford an ATM etc, we should therefore not be spending on trips this expensive. Most committee members disagreed and started discussing who will be going on the trips,” Benn said.
Benn believes that the motion possibly stemmed from the fact that he has been trying to put better policies in place when it comes to spending for travels by members and special assistance to persons.
Another possible motive he gave was the fact that he did not support the sub-committee’s choice of candidate for the CEO’s post.
Furnished
He explained that the interviewing panel had furnished him with a list of the candidates and their performance during the interviews. However, a decision was taken by the panel to extend the applications period by two days.
“…the chair for the interview panel called the candidate who was (eventually) selected and told her to apply before the extended period. She was the only person who applied during the extension,” he said.
He went on to explain that when the matter was brought up for discussion he requested to see the score sheets of the candidates but that was rejected by those members who were part of the interviewing panel.
“I wanted to be sure on this decision since the allegation of the … extension to cater for the candidate was already surfacing. This individual was the Senior Finance Officer, when $100 million under the former Committee of Management was not accounted for…” Benn pointed out. He let it be known that the individual was sent on administrative leave on a few occasions.
However, he stated that he decided to remove himself from the finalising of the CEO appointment and left the Vice Chairman in charge.
The members of the board rebutted this explanation and stated that Benn’s objection is based on the fact that one of his candidates was not selected for the post. Pollard during the press conference said, Benn “walked out” of the meeting and not as he claims.
Further the members accused Benn of taking all the credit for the transformation of the credit union when in fact it was a team effort. Responding to this Benn said while it appeared as if he was taking credit for the upward trajectory of the union, whenever praises are given publicly he would accept them on behalf of the committee and noted that it was always a team effort.
Pollard stated that the committee during its management was able to give their headquarters a facelift, pay dividends after 11 years, enhance the Hadfield Street avenue, increase staff salaries, audit all their books up to 2020, and even host promotions.
The GPSCCU is currently led by a committee which was elected on April 11. This committee comprises of members of an interim management committee (IMC) which was installed in 2018. This newspaper understands that they were given a mandate by approximately 1,000 of the credit union’s 23,000 membership.
In 2019, Benn was appointed as head of the IMC and had told Stabroek News that much development had taken place since the interim body was installed.
“I would say that we have taken the Credit Union to a new level and that is what is affecting the old management team…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,” Benn said then.
Prior to the installation of the IMC, the credit union’s management had accused then 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.
