In a 2020 TED Talk, Massy’s former executive vice president of business integrity and group general counsel, Angélique Parisot-Potter explained why it was important to speak up in the workplace no matter what.
Addressing her experience at a workplace where she was told by a colleague that she was being replaced for “messing with the wrong people”, Ms Parisot-Potter said:
“I did not submit but I won’t pretend that it was easy to speak up or beneficial in any way to me, to my family or to my career. When we speak up in the workplace despite policies to the contrary, whilst we may not lose our jobs we are likely to lose the camaraderie of our co-workers…disbelieved, ostracised, faced with under the radar bullying. You know the kind when you walk into a room and everybody stops talking. We think it is not my responsibility to say anything. So why did I choose to act despite the risks to my family and me? The sin of omission is the failure to do what you know is right. When you stay quiet, even though you are not guilty of wrongdoing yourself, what will you have to live with if you don’t take action?
“I have learnt three things. One, don’t second guess yourself. When you see something amiss ask questions because it is ok to challenge those in authority. Two, don’t be complicit you always have the power to say no in the face of wrongdoing and three, be an upstander. Speaking up is not about being brave. It is not about not feeling scared but when you do what you know is right you can be at peace with yourself. Yes, it is hard to say what you feel in the moment. Do it anyway. Be fearless”.
It was this conviction that inspired her to stun the Massy Group’s 100th Annual General Meeting on December 18th last year in Trinidad and Tobago. As reported by the Trinidad Guardian, when Massy chairman Robert Riley opened the floor for questions at the Hilton Trinidad annual meeting, Ms Parisot-Potter was first in line to raise issues.
Reading from a prepared text, she said she was obliged to speak about significant governance and fiduciary concerns, as set out in her 13-page document, including audio evidence, previously shared with the group’s Chief Executive Officer, Gervase Warner.
“Among other matters, one alarming issue is the so-called executive leadership programme, which has been present in our organisation for over a decade. This programme involves frequent travel to Fort Myers, Florida, and weekly commitments for over a year at a cost per participant of tens of thousands of US dollars for which there were over 11 participants last year, alone.
“Their bizarre rituals include that they can train Massy employees to communicate with the dead and that attendees can self heal with ‘white light energy’.
“This is a matter of grave concern to shareholders because the couple leading this programme appear to exert disproportionate influence over our executive team.
“In the midst of a foreign exchange crisis, Massy cannot be spending scarce resources on highly dubious activities, and contracts awarded cannot be pushed through without prudent due process. This is not just a governance issue; it’s a blatant disregard for shareholder interests. I urge the board to take this, and the other issues I have raised, seriously”, she said.
Nine days later, she resigned explaining that her decision stemmed from claims being made about her motives and that she was waiting on a settlement from Massy.
“This decision comes one month after I formally raised concerns within Massy and to which I have not received a response. I hope that this will allow me to contribute to the broader conversation on governance, particularly in publicly listed companies,” Ms Parisot-Potter said.
Her concerns are now the subject of an investigation which she is not participating in as she has refused to sign a gag order
“I could not agree to something that was clearly intended to silence me from the outset, and which would hinder my ability to rightfully defend myself against the company’s public attacks which began immediately following the AGM (annual general meeting),” Ms Parisot-Potter told the Sunday Express
Senior counsel Kerwyn Garcia, the husband of Trinidadian President Christine Kangaloo, and attorney Vishma Jaisingh, a partner at Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith and Morgan, were appointed by the Massy board to conduct the investigation into the allegations made by Ms Parisot-Potter.
Given Massy’s longstanding and expanding operations here, the questions raised at the Annual General Meeting last year also bear careful scrutiny here and Guyanese stakeholders must pay keen interest.
However the investigation turns out, Ms Parisot-Potter has undoubtedly buffeted the veil of corporate secrecy all across the Caribbean. Mr Warner has taken early retirement and the group still has to navigate the way forward.
The corporate community here should examine the practices within their organisations and be not afraid to speak out where this is necessary to their shareholders and the general public.
As in the case of Ms Parisot-Potter, whistleblowing is an important facet of thriving democracies, something this PPP/C government has no respect for hence the absence of the enabling framework and a non-functioning Access to Information law.
Just last week, the intolerance to people speaking out was on show by Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, no doubt smarting from references to him at the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR) hearing on Guyana’s periodic report in Geneva, Switzerland. He had the temerity to label all the questions posed as being APNU derived and demanded to know the names of the questioners in a manner that could only be interpreted as an act of intimidation.
For full disclosure, Stabroek News was among the diverse groups that submitted shadow reports to the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR) for questions to the Guyana delegation. There was no secret here at all to be discovered. These reports have been available for weeks on the UN committee’s website and one would have expected that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance would have downloaded and distributed them to the relevant government ministries in preparation for the three days of questioning last week.
This country needs more of Ms Parisot-Potter’s determination toward transparency and fairness and less of this government’s intolerance of critics.
