Nigel Hinds resigns as GWI Chairman

Oct 08, 2016 News

…says he is no rubber stamp
After weeks of controversy between Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Water

Former GWI Board Chairman, Nigel Hinds

Incorporated and the Managing Director of GWI, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, the board’s chairman tendered his resignation yesterday to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan.
In the letter addressed to the subject minister, Hinds communicated his deep sense of regret for resigning from his post with effect from October 26, 2016. Despite being pleased with the faith and confidence placed in him to perform his duties as chairman, Hinds said that he is not able to perform his duties to the best of his ability.
“I cannot perform in the best interest of GWI staff, GWI Shareholders and other Stakeholders of GWI as a rubber stamp Chairman of GWI, thus, my resignation.”
The tension between Hinds and GWI’s Managing Director Dr. Van West Charles took a turn for the worst when technicians of the water authority attempted to check the connection of the water well located at the Queen’s Atlantic Investment Inc. Ruimveldt facility which is under the direction of Dr. Ranjisinghi “Bobby” Ramroop, a close friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
When technicians arrived at the facility, an order came from the management of the water company to suspend all investigations until further notice. The complex is home to a newspaper, radio and storage bond as well as administration offices of QAII.
The visit by the GWI technicians was described by Dr. Ramroop as an act of retaliation by Dr. Charles for an article which appeared in a newspaper owned by QAII that he benefited from a fuel import and

Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan

storage licence.
Dr. Van West Charles admitted to issuing the order for the technicians to stand down, however, he said that the action was at the behest of Chairman of the GWI Board, Nigel Hinds.
Hinds had said that the wisdom behind the cease order, was the recognition that the ownership of the well needed to be investigated. After the investigation was completed, it was announced by GWI that the well is no longer in the water company’s control.
Hinds had confirmed that the order did come from him. He said that the order came one day after the technicians inspected the complex and not immediately.
The former Board Chairman was later questioned by this publication about the possibility that his order for technicians to cease investigations was in any way influenced by the relationship between the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) and the QAII.
The New GPC, a subsidiary of QAII was a major sponsor of the federation.
The company sponsored the Guyana boys’ team which participated in the CentroBasket Under- 15 Young Men Championships in Puerto Rico this year. In his defence, Hinds said that the request for sponsorship was made since June and was only recently approved.
In the late 2000s the well was transferred by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) under questionable circumstances together with the Sanata Textile Complex, Ruimveldt to QAII.
It is unclear why NICIL, the state owned company which handles matters of investments and privatisations of public properties, would endeavour to sell the well.

GWI’s Managing Director, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles

It has now transpired that the well remains the property of Guyana Water Inc
Dr. Van West Charles’s management practices and procurement of contracts had also come into question several times causing Hinds to move a motion for the Managing Director to be sent on leave until there was a full investigation into alleged abuse of authority and possible practices of favouritism at the company.
The motion was amended so that a number of meetings may be held with staffers concerning the morale of GWI among other issues.
It was alleged that Dr. Van West Charles approved an $11M contract for the supply of jerry cans in August to his neighbour in Meadowbrook Gardens.
He was also accused of bypassing established procedures, by hiring a number of officials to key positions. Investigations revealed several procurement breaches in both instances.
Additionally, the Managing Director reportedly took a questionable decision to shift GWI’s Internal Audit Department to another location away from the Vlissengen Road headquarters.
Procurement procedures were reportedly not followed when consultants were hired to do work on GWI’s ICT network.
Dr. Van West Charles has denied that he ever used his office to get the license.

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