Latest update December 3rd, 2024 1:00 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

Fustigating “Fuzzy” becomes a fusama

May 23, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

We southern Georgetowners like to pronounce the name “Fuzzy” with a long drag, “Fuzaaay.’ We draw out the vowel sounds and the pronunciation is done slowly. At St. Thomas More Primary School on D’Urban Street, Wortmanville, that I attended, we had a character in school nicknamed, “Fuzzy.”
Fuzzy was a bully who was ignominiously defeated by one head butt from another character we called “Whapit.” Whapit’s head was so large that we thought “Fuzaaay” was dead.
Whapit lived next door to the famous Colin Croft at the corner of Hardina and D’Urban Streets. When Fuzaaay fell to the ground, Whapit went home and returned to school one week later only after he discovered that Fuzaaay was alive. I always remember that incident whenever I hear the name Fuzzy.
“Fuzzy” Sattaur, Chief Executive Officer of NCN, from what I hear, is a person who is always in a fustigating mood. It appears that one such session led to a confrontation with the Board. The relation between a board and management is a grey area in management science that often engenders strains in the relationship. Is there a large line of demarcation between policy-making and administrative independence?
Many times in countless organisations, this line is blurred. I sit on the board of one of Guyana’s most important organisations – the Council of the University of Guyana – and my four years’ experience there tells me that there are times when administrative affairs and policy-making become entangled.
There are times when the separation is neat. Take a commercial bank. If it decides to separate its loan department into a Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara section respectively, that should not concern the board if the basic guidelines to lending do not change. In other words, if the policy of how you lend money is not touched then the reorganization should not see an intrusion from the policy-makers.
Take employment practices. Most managers will tell you that hiring and firing is an internal affair that should not concern the board. They are right. But sticky situations can arise.
In Fuzzy’s case, he was right to refuse employment to the person in question. That is management’s prerogative. The board comes in if the refused person makes a claim that he or she was not treated fairly and was discriminated against by gender, race or culture. In Guyana, we subscribe to fair employment practices in both the world of business and in the public realm.
In the case of Fuzzy, matters became complicated because there was an appeal to the board. The policy-makers can only act if they find that the employment framework which the entire country adheres to was breached. In such a situation, Fuzzy would be in trouble.
It needs to be pointed out that a manager cannot reject a board’s decision to employ a person with a criminal record if that is a change of policy by the decision-making machinery upstairs. Management does not formulate policies in any organization that has an overseeing unit.
At the time of writing, I do not know if Fuzzy’s rejection of Mr. Bacchus was a violation of fair employment practices but it would seem in management science that if the board gives a CEO a decision to carry out, he has only one option if the nature of the decision is based on an illegality – to refuse and appeal to a higher authority.
The higher authority is the law, but as we know from the cigarette industry in the US, if the board fires him, then the law cannot reinstate him. In many democratic countries, particularly in Scandinavia, the law prevents even the Prime Minister from upturning certain decisions in certain areas of the public sector.
In Sweden, the Prime Minister cannot intervene in the affairs of the Immigration Board.
Fuzzy went to President Jagdeo and got his suspension lifted and his decision not to employ Mr. Bacchus is secured. Things look rather inelegant at NCN because the board of NCN consists of all the President’s men. Yet Fuzzy won out.
In poor Guyana where banana republic status is assigned to this nation, the NCN Board will take its licks and continues. Morally, they ought to show their indignation and resign. Is there an opposition member of the NCN Board? If yes, one hopes the PNC recalls him/her.
Fuzzy has now become a fusama at NCN. That is a Japanese house furnishing unit that separates different sections in the home. There is now a fusama between management and the board at NCN and Fuzaaay is that object. After all, Fuzaaay is management.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

 

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Rana five-for and enterprising batting put Bangladesh in the driver’s seat

Rana five-for and enterprising batting put Bangladesh in the...

Dec 03, 2024

ESPNcricinfo – Bangladesh’s counter-attacking batting and accurate fast bowling gave them their best day on this West Indies tour so far. At stumps on the third day of the Jamaica Test,...
Read More
ANSA McAL on board with inaugural National Futsal C/ship

ANSA McAL on board with inaugural National Futsal...

Dec 03, 2024

GBF unveils squad for 2024 FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup in Puerto Rico

GBF unveils squad for 2024 FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup...

Dec 03, 2024

Someash Boyer benefits from Project “Cricket Gear for young and promising cricketers in Guyana”

Someash Boyer benefits from Project “Cricket...

Dec 03, 2024

Several athletes and coaches aiming to benefit from India’s JAIN University scholarships

Several athletes and coaches aiming to benefit...

Dec 03, 2024

GAPLF congratulates Dominic Tyrell for taking Sportsman of the Year runner-up  

GAPLF congratulates Dominic Tyrell for taking...

Dec 03, 2024

Features/Columnists

  • Morally Right. Legally wrong

    …Peeping Tom Morally Right. Legally wrong Kaieteur News- The situation concerning the disputed parliamentary seat held... more

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]