Sacked General Manager of the Guyana National Newspaper Limited, which is the publisher of the Guyana Chronicle, Sherrod Duncan is moving to the Prime Minister’s Office to have his dismissal overturned.
According to Duncan’s attorney, James Bond, the litany of breaches brought against his client does not warrant dismissal and as such, a call is being made to the Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, who has oversight for the State entity, to review the decision made by the Board.
“These matters I must say does not warrant dismissal… no one could show that Mr Duncan benefitted personally from any of those, I think that was to his credit” Bond stated.
According to the learned attorney, if the matter is not addressed at this level then a wrongful dismissal lawsuit will be filed at the High Court.
“I wouldn’t want to give too much to what they said but that is the essence of them saying that there was not [a] vote to dismiss Mr Duncan so that would be our primary trust in appealing to the Office of the Prime Minister that there was no vote …If the matter isn’t address at this level, a wrongful dismissal case will be filed at the High Court”, Bond revealed.
Duncan, who was the Alliance For Change (AFC) Councillor for the city of Georgetown and Deputy Mayor, served as General Manager of the company from June 1, 2018, to April 1, 2019.
The Board of Directors of GNNL in a statement said the decision to dismiss Duncan came after a five-hour long meeting at the company’s office where Duncan and his legal representative, Attorney James Bond, were given the opportunity to provide an explanation in response to the findings of the audit report which was dated March 18, 2019, and answer questions posed by the Directors as to why he should not be disciplined in accordance with the recommendations of the report, which was presented by the Office of the Auditor General.
According to the statement, 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.
A vote on the matter of termination of services was called and three Directors voted against, while three voted in favour. There was a tie and the Chairman, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, supported the termination of Duncan’s services in accordance with Article 94 of the company’s Articles of Incorporation.
There are over 20 transactions conducted under Duncan’s watch or by Duncan himself, which were in blatant violation of financial regulations.
A special audit ordered by the Office of the Auditor General found numerous violations during the short three-month period under Duncan’s stewardship of the company.
