Georgetown: Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has overturned the decision of the Board of Directors of the state-owned Guyana National Newspapers Limited and reinstated the controversial Sherod Duncan on Tuesday.
The Board of Directors of the Guyana Chronicle had taken a majority decision to fire General Manager Sherod Duncan after an audit report found over 20 transactions that did not follow financial regulations.
As a result of the Prime Ministers action, three board members- Chairman Geeta Chandan-Edmond, Mervyn Williams and Mr Hilbert Foster have since resigned.
A copy of the Prime Minister’s letter to the Chairman of the Board, Attorney-at-Law Geeta Chandan-Edmond stated that she made a unilateral decision to terminate Mr. Duncan and it was arbitrary, capricious, unlawful and in excess of the jurisdiction of the Board.
“Further, I am concerned that you have misled the Office of the Prime Minister with the erroneous claim that the Board of Directors came to this decision. It is clear that you deliberately sought to terminate Mr. Duncan without following the prescribed procedures and further, misleading this Office,” Nagamootoo told the GNNL Chairman.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo issued a directive on Tuesday that the Board’s decision to fire Duncan has been rescinded and that he would be returning to head the newspaper company.
“In the premises, I cannot rely on your advice that the termination of the service of Mr. Duncan accords with due process and procedural fairness and instruct that the decision be rescinded,” the Prime Minister told Chandan-Edmond,
The Office of the Auditor General had contracted auditing firm Chateram Ramdihal Chartered Accountants Professional Services Firm to carry out an audit of the State newspaper’s operations from June 1, 2018, to September 10, 2018.
The audit found that tender rules were breached where, under Duncan’s watch, services were procured without contracts and approvals were given for payments without the regular procedure of company stamp or signature.
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.
Duncan’s tenure at the State newspaper came under fire in September of last year when he summarily dismissed Finance Controller Moshamie Ramotar when an online news entity published a report detailing excessive spending under Duncan.
Duncan’s decision to fire Ramotar was almost immediately rescinded following a meeting between the Chandan-Edmund, Duncan and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who has oversight of the information sector.
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