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Chris Ram seeks to modify New Building Society Act

Jul 22, 2010 News

Chartered accountant Christopher Ram will today be invoking a clause of the New Building Societies Act that the Minister of Finance is seeking to have amended in Parliament.
Bill no. 7/2010 which was tabled in Parliament last Thursday and will be debated today, seeks to make amendments to the New Building Society Act.
According to Ram, the amendment will remove two fundamental rights of members – the right to call for a special general meeting and the right to approach the Minister of Finance to launch an investigation into the affairs or accounts of the Society.
These actions can be instigated by these member minorities as long as there is justifiable cause to do so.
Under Section 12(2) of the New Building Societies Act,  “the Board shall on the requisition of at least one-tenth of the whole number of the members of the Society or of fifty members, whichever is less, forthwith proceed to convene a special general meeting of the Society.
“Special General Meetings can be called to address specific matters that are too urgent to wait until scheduled General Meetings.”
Ram’s contention is that removing the proviso that fifty members can call for a Special General meeting would require the signature of almost 10,000 persons (ten percent of membership) on the requisition.
He went on to note that at no time in the history of the Society has a General Meeting ever been attended by more than 400 members.
The other amendment comes under Section 19(1) of the act where it says that the Minister may, if he thinks fit, on the application of not less than one-tenth of the whole of members of the Society or of one hundred members whichever is less, either – (a) appoint an accountant or actuary to inspect the books of the Society and to report thereon; or (b) appoint an inspector to examine into and report on the affairs of the Society.
Here again there needs to be sufficient reason behind the call for an investigation. The Minister of Finance however is seeking to have the 100-member minority removed from the act requiring again at least 10,000 persons to call for one of these inquiries.
When this newspaper contacted him last evening, Mr. Ram said that his group has garnered some 90 signatures on a requisition for a Special General meeting.
That requisition, he says, will be deposited at the head office of the New Building Society today before the Parliamentary sitting at 14:00 hours where the amendments are set to be debated. According to Ram the business of the meeting will be the discussion of the proposed amendments and to make recommendations – the act stipulates that only the business indicated as the reason for calling the meeting will be discussed therein.
He also indicated that he had sent a note to Donald Ramotar, General Secretary of the PPP/C, asking him and his party to support a deferral however, this note has yet to be acknowledged.
Ram said that he was aware that he may very well be fighting a losing battle in this instance but it has to be done. He went on to say, “All we want is good governance of the Society.”

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