Chairman of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Rawle Lucas has resigned from this post.
Former GPL Chairman Rawle Lucas
When contacted on Tuesday, Lucas confirmed his resignation. While he did not share his reasons for resigning, he noted that he stepped down since August 7, a day after President Irfaan Ali’s new Cabinet was sworn in.
“I did that last Friday. I chose to resign, that’s all,” Lucas, who previously served as Chairman of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), told this publication. Lucas was appointed as GPL Chairman in May 2019 by the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
At the time, however, the coalition Government was in a caretaker status having lost a No-Confidence Motion in December 2018. As such, it was not supposed to be engaged in political appointments or the signing of new contracts.
The former Government, nevertheless, disregarded this convention, appointing not just Lucas and the GPL Board but a number of other Boards. For instance, last year, the former caretaker APNU/AFC appointed a new Board of Directors for the Bank of Guyana and GRA.
In addition, it went ahead with appointing Chairpersons for the Investment Promotion Council, Guyana Oil Company, Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC), Atlantic Hotel Incorporated (AHI), Bureau of Statistics and National Insurance Schemes.
The PPP, while it was in Opposition, has always insisted that these appointments are illegal. Now Attorney General Anil Nandlall had said at the time that these appointments would have to be reviewed at the appropriate time.
Since being sworn in on August 2, President Ali has taken a stance against political appointees, who this publication understands proliferate throughout the various Ministries. So much so that the former APNU/AFC party that hired these political appointees have raised concerns over their removal.
But in a brief statement on Friday, President Ali made it clear that no public servant has been fired since he took the Oath of Office on Sunday, August 2, 2020. The Head of State had revealed that a number of APNU/AFC political appointees tendered their resignation and several others have been advised accordingly.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, during a virtual update earlier on Friday. She assured that public servants are not being targeted by the new Administration – as is being claimed by the APNU/AFC coalition.
