Chase-Green acts as GWI Chair

Mar 22, 2017 News

…in light of no substantive appointment

Since the resignation of accountant Nigel Hinds from the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Water Incorporated, there has not been a substantive appointment to the position by the Ministry of Communities.

Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green

As a result, Mayor of the City of Georgetown Patricia Chase-Green has been performing the duties of chair, ad interim. Hinds’ resignation came into effect on October 26, 2016.
During the latter part of 2016, this newspaper made calls to the office of Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Dawn Hastings-Williams and was informed by the Minister’s secretary that Hastings would not be commenting on the matter.
Earlier this year, when Managing Director of GWI, Richard Van-West Charles was asked whether he knew when a board chairman would be appointed, he said he was not in a position to say. However, Van-West Charles did confirm that Chase-Green was performing the functions of Chairperson of the board and as a result operations of the water authority were moving along smoothly.
The board’s life is effective from September 1, 2015 to June 30, 2017. The other persons who were appointed at the time to sit on the board included engineer Charles Ceres, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communities, Emil McGarrel, David Dewar, Carol Joseph, Savitri Singh-Sharma, Ryan Belgrave and Samantha Fedee from the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs.
Under the previous Government, GWI fell under the Ministry of Housing and Water. Housing, Water and the Ministry of the Local Government and Regional Development have been merged and now are all managed under the Ministry of Communities. However, according to staff members of the GWI, the water company comes under the portfolio of Minister Hastings.
Since the life of the board comes to an end in June, two months away, one may believe that the appointment of a new chairman of the board is being delayed so that a new board can be appointed, thereby filling all the positions.
When Hinds had issued his resignation letter, he told Minister Bulkan that he was not able to perform his duties in the best interest of GWI staff, GWI stakeholders and other stakeholders of GWI as a rubber stamp Chairman of GWI. He told the Minister that it was with a deep sense of regret that he is resigning from his post. He said that despite being pleased with the faith and confidence placed in him to perform his duties as chairman, he was unable to perform his duties to the best of his ability.

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