Port Mourant NDC Overseer fired again

The embattled Overseer of the John-Port Mourant Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) has been fired, for a second time, over claims of abuse and fraud.
The letter of termination of service was delivered to the Overseer on Wednesday. The document, seen by Guyana Times, was signed by Secretary of the Local Government Commission (LGC) Nickalai Pryce.
It states: “At a duly-convened Statutory Meeting of the Local Government Commission (LGC), held on Tuesday, February 25, 2020, it was unanimously decided to investigate the multiple written complaints from workers of the Port Mourant-John Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), residents of Port Mourant/John and Councillors against you…, Overseer of the NDC,” it said in part.
The letter cited 24 allegations against the Overseer, which spanned the period 2016 to 2019 but were not limited to that period.
Among these are assault on the Clerical Assistant on more than one occasion; being abusive, intimidating and tormenting the staff; embezzlement of the NDC’s funds; falsifying amounts for travelling; making undue deductions from the wages and salaries of staff of the NDC, among others.
It had been reported that the Overseer has in the past been accused of several irregularities at the Council.
During 2019, she was accused of not recording payments made by market vendors, who had owed large sums to the NDC. The matter was brought to the fore last year, when some of those vendors were contacted about monies they owe and they all stated that they had cleared their debts.
The Overseer is also accused of instructing the Market Clerk and the Revenue Clerk not to work on Sundays. She worked instead as a Revenue Collector at the Port Mourant Market, and paid herself $1000.
However, between September last year and March this year, the NDC says there was no record of the revenues collected on Sundays during that period when the Overseer appointed herself as the Sunday Market Clerk.
The letter of termination also called her out for misplacing three Vendor Recording Revenue Books.
It also noted that the Overseer was duly informed of the commencement of the investigation into the allegations made against her and was asked to appear for an interview at the Local Government Commission’s Secretariat, on March 13, 2020, and provided oral responses to the allegations.
However, according to the letter, she was given an opportunity to submit a written response to the allegations on or before March 16, 2020 but she did not.
“The LGC at a duly-convened Statutory Meeting held on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, considered the fact that you did not provide a written response to the charges levelled against you. Further, you did not give reason(s) why disciplinary action should not be taken against you.”
The letter added that in light of the preceding, after careful examination of the facts before it, the LGC concluded that the Overseer was guilty of Serious Misconduct.
“The LGC pursuant to the powers vested in it, by virtue of Section 13 (1) & (2) of the LGC Act, and in keeping with Section 10 (1) & (2) of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act 1997, hereby informs you that you are summarily dismissed from the position of Overseer for Serious Misconduct, with effect from Thursday, June 16, 2020.”
The Overseer was also required to return all the Council’s property in her possession to the Chairman of the Port Mourant-John NDC within 72 hours, the letter states.
The Overseer was previously dismissed from the NDC, but was rehired under the caretaker Coalition Administration. She was subsequently suspended after her reappointment, but the Communities Ministry again intervened and overturned the suspension.