Members move to High Court in battle for control of Public Service Credit Union

Three members of the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) have filed legal proceedings at the Demerara High Court as the battle for control of this financial entity intensifies.
In their action, the applicants Mehalai Mc Almont, Keith Marks and Natasha Clements are asking a Judge to invalidate certain decisions made by the GPSCCU’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Adeola Griffith and its Committee of Management, comprising Patrick Mentore, Trevor Benn, Gillian Pollard, Rajdai Jagarnauth, Leslyn Noble, Ruth Howard, O. Eastman-Onwuzirike, Charles Ogle, Arthur Gibbs, Karen Vansluytman-Corbin, Kirwyn Mars, and Jermain Hermanstyne, who have been named respondents in the matter.
The trio argue that Noble, Howard, Eastman-Onwuzirike, Ogle, Gibbs, Vansluytman-Corbin, Mars and Hermanstyne illegally convened a statutory meeting of the GPSCCU on May 14, 2022, which continued on May 19, 2022, and purportedly passed a motion to remove Mentore as Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Management, performing duties of Chairman, on the basis that he “adjourned the statutory meeting twice, thereby preventing the conducting of the business of the credit union”.
The applicants further argue that the Committee of Management illegally reconvened a statutory meeting purportedly to elect Mars and Hermanstyne as respective Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Committee of Management.

No-confidence motion
The applicants, Mc Almont, Marks and Clements, submit that after a no-confidence motion was passed against Benn at a Special Committee Meeting on April 21, he was removed as the GPSCCU’s Chairman, but not as a member of its Committee of Management. As a result, they said, Mentore was empowered by the credit union’s Chief Co-operative Development Officer (ag), via a letter dated May 4 and by the GPSCCU’s Rules, to perform the duties of Chairman until a new chairman has been elected.
They said that Mentore, in performance of his duties as Chairman of the Committee of Management, presided over a statutory meeting on May 14, which continued on May 19, during which he informed the members that he had received a petition signed by the statutorily required number of members of the GPSCCU on May 11 and 12, containing specific demands, including for the holding of a Special General Meeting and the removal of the Committee of Management.
According to the applicants, Mentore informed the Committee that the CEO was also in receipt of the petition. They said he asked the Committee to discuss the petition as a matter of priority, given the demands contained therein, but the Committee informed him that they were not in receipt of the petition, notwithstanding the CEO having signed the said document acknowledging receipt of same.
“The Committee has outright refused to discuss the petition, and to act in accordance with its demands; that is to say, the holding of a Special General Meeting as mandated by Regulation 16 of the Co-operative Societies Regulations,” the applicants contend.

Legitimacy
They deposed that the Committee of Management is now questioning the legality and legitimacy of the petition, despite its conformity with the relevant credit union regulations, and the Committee is carrying on business as usual.
The applicants have said that, via a correspondence dated May 16, Mentore summoned the Committee to an urgent meeting on May 18, to discuss the petition; however, only Mentore and Benn were in attendance.
They added that eight members of the Committee instead informed Pollard, the Secretary of the Committee of Management, after the scheduled start of the meeting, that they could not attend the meeting because of other commitments. As such, the applicants have said, Mentore, on May 18, gave the Committee members notice of a Special General Meeting to be held on June 25 at the credit union’s Hadfield Street, Georgetown headquarters.
The applicants said that Mentore also reminded the Committee that a meeting of the membership of a registered society is the highest decision-making forum of any registered society, and that the petition containing the objects of the proposed meeting is lawful and valid.
The applicants noted that Mentore also instructed the credit union’s marketing and public relations unit to put all the necessary arrangements in place to give effect to the petition, including the immediate publication of an official notice on the credit union’s Facebook page and in all newspapers in national circulation.

Counter instructions
The applicants have said that the CEO telephoned Mentore and informed him that she would not be carrying out his instructions, as she is neither aware of any Board decision on the matter, nor is she in possession of any minutes notifying her of same.
The applicants further submitted that CEO Griffith also indicated that she would be issuing counter instructions to the Management Secretary not to carry out Mentore’s instructions.
The applicants added that, in a letter dated May 19, Griffith informed the Society’s Management Secretary that “unless it is a board decision, no such instruction will be carried out, and as such, I have asked you to stand down on this matter as I await to be further advised on the matter.”
In response to Mentore’s instructions, the applicants have said, the Committee of Management posted a disclaimer on the GPSCCU’s Facebook Page, informing that the notice for the Special General Meeting of members was not approved by the credit union, and that no such meeting is scheduled. As such, they contend that the foregoing demonstrates the Committee of Management’s total disregard for the petition of the members and the demand for the holding of a Special General Meeting of the members.

Declarations
Against this backdrop, the applicants are asking the High Court to declare that, in his capacity as duly elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Management, performing duties of Chairman, Mentore can convene a Special General Meeting of the Society.
The applicants are seeking another declaration: that the notice for a Special General Meeting, published in the newspapers under the hand of Mentore, is legal and valid.
They want the court to grant an order compelling the respondents to give effect to the petition signed by over 200 members of the GPSCCU; an order that the respondents pay the cost of their application; any other orders the court deems just; and costs.
Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde is appearing for the applicants.