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Linden Town Clerk sacked
By Brushell Blackman
Town Clerk of the Linden Town Council, Jonellor Bowen, was sacked by the Minister of Communities,
Sacked: Jonellor Bowen
Ronald Bulkan, yesterday. In a release the Minister said that in his deliberative judgment “he has taken a decision to revoke the appointment of Ms Jonellor Bowen, who served as Town Clerk of the Linden Mayor and Town Council. The revocation of her appointment was effective from yesterday.”
Arriving at Freedom House during the opposition party weekly press conference yesterday, and on the same day she got her marching orders, Bowen said that she received the letter of dismissal last Friday.
Chronicling the events leading up to her dismissal, Bowen said that she was attending a seminar for town clerks at the Ministry of Communities last Friday, and upon arrival there the former town clerk said that she was advised by a staff that she should report to the Minister and the Permanent Secretary (PS).
Bowen said that she thought nothing was amiss and followed the instruction that was given. “I went upstairs and I approached the secretary of the PS, and she indicated that I should check with the minister’s secretary”.
The woman said that when she approached the secretary she was advised that there was a correspondence there for her (Bowen) for which she signed and collected. Bowen said that she returned to the PS’s office and it was at that point the PS said he wished Bowen well in her future endeavours and that she was not allowed to be a part of the Town Clerks seminar.
Bowen said that during all of these discussions she did not open the mail. She was advised by the PS that she should comply with the contents of the letter. Soon after she left the ministry.
Bowen indicated that the letter did not give a reason for her dismissal; however the former Town Clerk and the Mayor of Linden Carwyn Holland have been at ‘loggerheads’ over the way the town clerk was discharging her duties.
Bowen had raised the issue of transportation monies, which is believed to be around $500,000 that was used by Holland and his Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindell, to offset their transportation expenses.
Bowen was accused of leaking information about those expenses to the public. She was also accused of undermining the work of the council and was working to foster the ambitions of the opposition party to which she is said to being aligned.
A no confidence motion was moved against Bowen last year and a Commission of Inquiry (COI) found that the Linden Town Council made a number of procedural errors when it moved the motion against.
The Commission, which was headed by Mortimer Mingo, found that the no-confidence motion that was moved by the Town Council on July 27 last year was in contravention of the Standing Order and the Municipality Act. As a result Bowen was re-instated.
Bowen’s letter of dismissal cites Sections 118 (1) and 326 (4) of the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01. She was appointed by former Minister within the Ministry of Local Government, Norman Whittaker, on July 3, 2012.
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