“Team Trevor Benn” boycotting today’s Public Service Credit Union elections

…cites flagrant breaches of court order by CoM

A team of candidates headed by Trevor Benn will be boycotting today’s Special General Meeting (SGM) of the Guyana Public Service Credit Co-operative Credit Union (GPSCCU) which could see the election of a new executive. Their reason for this is because plans for the meeting, as they are, violate a September 30 High Court order, Attorney-at-Law Christopher Thompson, a member of “Team Trevor Benn” told a press conference Sunday.
In his ruling on an application filed by three members of the GPSCCU—Mehalai Mc Almont, Keith Marks, and Natasha Durant-Clements—Justice Navindra Singh, among other things, declared that the notice informing of the demand for the SGM, which had been previously set for June, had been lawfully issued. The High Court Judge consequently ordered that the SGM has to be held no later than today, October 24.

A notice for the holding of the SGM was recently issued in a daily newspaper by the Chairperson of the credit union’s Committee of Management (CoM), Karen Vansluytman-Corbin. It reads: “Pursuant to the Co-operatives Societies Act, Cap 88:01, Regulation 16, Notice is hereby given that a Special General Meeting of Members of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Ltd… will be held on Monday, October 24, 2022, in the auditorium of the new Central High School, Princes Street, Georgetown, Guyana at 8:00h.”
Even though it is confident of a victory, “Team Trevor Benn” has refused to partake in the meeting and has urged its supporters to do the same as systems are not in place to guarantee a free, fair, and transparent election. Thompson explained that one-fourth of the GPSCCU’s membership must be present at the SGM for there to be a quorum.
He said Justice Singh ordered that preparation for this year’s SGM mirror that of last year’s. According to him, the following measures were in place for 2021’s meeting: a notice of the SGM was published in five newspapers of national circulation and contained the objective and agenda of the meeting, nomination day for potential holders was advertised and members were allowed to nominate candidates of their choice, polling stations were established in each administrative region, systems for online voting and live streaming of the meeting was done by a company from Trinidad and Tobago and voters’ education materials were also circulated. None of these are in place for today’s meeting, he added.

How is the CoM flouting the court order?
Thompson pointed out: “The notice of the SGM was published in a single newspaper. The object and the agenda of that meeting were not included in the notice. No nomination day for the potential office bearers was advertised or held and therefore members are going into a Special General Meeting without having a clue about who is vying for office.
“We have not heard of and there has not been established any polling stations for voting outside of Region Four. Members in the other regions who are interested in voting will have to make the trek all the way down to Georgetown in order to cast their vote in person. More importantly, 20,000-plus members of the credit union are being given a maximum of two hours to register to vote online virtually…from 07:00h to 09:00h… the credible IT service provider will not be conducting the online voting and live streaming…”
In light of this, the lawyer said, “there is total disobeying of the court order”.
Since none of these systems are in place, the team believes that the SGM cannot be held tomorrow and not until all the Judge’s orders are followed.

Contempt of court
During a press conference last week, Thomspon said he “rather suspects” this is the first time the court has sanctioned an SGM, adding, “I would want to believe that the current Committee of Management may be unaware of their liability for contempt of court proceedings if this court order is not followed to the letter…”
According to him, this is not a regular members’ sanctioned meeting but rather a direct order of the court that has to be complied with. Non-compliance with the order of a court, he pointed out, will result in contempt of court proceedings against the CoM.
For his part, Trevor Benn, who is running for Chairman, told Sunday’s press conference, “I want to encourage all the members and supporters of Team Benn to be patient, to avoid any confrontation, and stay away from the meeting. We have been advised by our lawyers that it is in our best interest not to participate in this process. We will be making contact with you about the way forward. We will want the Judge’s instructions to be followed…”
It is understood that the current CoM has applied for a variation of the court order.
That matter comes up for a hearing on November 7.
Checks made on the GPSCCU’s Facebook page on Sunday indicated that the SGM will be held today. Several notices have been posted on the social media page for online registration, participation, and voting in the SGM, as well as the Zoom link for the meeting.