…says Nagamootoo needs Duncan’s support to retain PM post at AFC congress
The reinstatement of sacked Guyana Chronicle General Manager Sherod Duncan is part of a deal to ensure that his supporters vote for Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to retain his post in the Alliance For Change’s upcoming national conference set for June 15.
This is the view of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who on Thursday told reporters that he was not surprised that Prime Minister Nagamootoo had Duncan reinstated shortly after he was given his marching orders at the Guyana Chronicle newspaper.
“We all know; it is transparent that the only reason he was reinstated is because he was appointed the Chairman of the Georgetown District of the Alliance For Change and he would have delegates. And so Nagamootoo, opportunistically now, he wants the support. So, a deal was cut to reinstate him (Duncan). Forget the transparency, forget about the thievery of public resources, etc,” Jagdeo said.
According to Jagdeo, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, who is also the Leader of the AFC, would naturally support the reinstatement of Duncan since his (Trotman’s) loyalty is to the Prime Minister.
“Because Trotman does not support Ramjattan, he supports Nagamootoo, so Trotman obviously would support the reinstatement of Sherod Duncan, because it seems as though a nice little cosy deal was cut that you give me back my job, I’ll deliver the delegates to you at the congress. And so, I am not surprised that it’s done but it is unethical and it shows the true nature of the AFC. They throwing away all their so-called principles for their own internal purpose,” the Opposition Leader stated.
Earlier this week, Trotman supported the move to have Duncan reinstated, saying that dismissal was too harsh a penalty in the first instance. He told Guyana Times that he did not believe that the Chronicle General Manager should have been fired in the first place over the breaches of financial regulations.
In a letter dated May 31, 2019, PM Nagamootoo, an AFC Executive Member, “instructed” the then Chair of the Guyana National Newspaper Limited (GNNL), Geeta Chandan-Edmond, to rescind the decision taken by the Board two months ago to dismiss Duncan, also an AFC party member.
Back in April, Chandan-Edmond had broken a deadlock and voted to have Duncan dismissed following recommendations from an audit, which found 20 transactions whereby he breached several financial regulations.
In a statement at the time, the GNNL Board had disclosed that one Director recommended a one-month suspension and an extension of probation for Duncan while two other Directors recommended an extension in the probation period while three other Directors held the view that Duncan’s services should be terminated with immediate effect for gross misconduct.
It was noted that a vote was then called on the matter and there was a tie which Chandan-Edmond broke.
However, in the correspondence to the GNNL Chair, the Prime Minister, who has responsibility over State media, pointed out that he was informed by Directors that there was in fact no vote put to the table.
Calling the decision to fire Duncan “arbitrary, capricious, unlawful and in excess of the jurisdiction of the Board”, the Prime Minister further stated in the missive that the Chair sought to mislead his office into thinking that the Board made the decision.
In response to the Prime Minister’s correspondence, Chandan-Edmond submitted her resignation, telling Nagamootoo his statements were not only “insulting” to her but the other Board Directors who voted to have Duncan dismissed back in April.
The audit of the State newspaper’s operations from June 1, 2018 to September 10, 2018 found that tender rules were violated, services were procured without contracts, and approvals were given for payments without the regular procedure of company stamp or signature.
There are over 20 transactions conducted under Duncan’s watch or by Duncan himself, which were in blatant violation of financial regulations.
Further, cash advances were given to Duncan to travel overseas, but he did not clear the amounts. It was also found that the company’s personnel policy and procedures manual were ignored during the recruitment, termination, and dismissal of employees.
The Guyana Chronicle has a Management Tender Committee, which approves transactions ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 before payments are made. But during the time period examined, no approval was given for nine such transactions valued at $1.6 million.
Duncan also took an overseas trip with the marketing coordinator for the resuscitation of the publication’s New York edition. This trip cost in excess of $736,028, but there was no approval for such an event and to date, no relevant documents were brought forward to support these expenditures, the audit found.
Moses Nagamootoo
