Agri Ministry stands behind CEO, sacks NAREI Chairman

Dec 15, 2018 News

Government has sacked its agricultural research Chairman after weeks of wrangling between him and his Board.

NAREI’s Chief, Dr. Oudho Homenauth

On Thursday, Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, informed Dr. Patrick Chesney that his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) has been terminated.
The termination would come after attempts were made by Chesney to remove NAREI’s long-serving Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Oudho Homenauth.
The tensions between the Chairman and his board members were detailed in a report sent to Minister Holder on 23rd November by six board members.
According to the correspondence, Chesney was appointed during the last few months of the life of the previous board, which expired at the end of June 2018.
The members said that the appointment of a new board appears to spell positive things for the institute.

Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder

“Dr. Chesney was an eminently qualified agriculturist, articulate and overflowing with new ideas.
The CEO, Dr. Homenauth was solid, having served at the institute for close to 20 years. In addition, Dr. Chesney acknowledged Dr. Homenauth as one who had lectured to him at University and supervised his work while employed at the institute.”
The members said that nobody expected the relations would have declined so rapidly.
“Dr. Chesney very quickly regressed into disrespectful and abusive behaviour towards Dr. Homenauth in his spoken as well as his written words.”
The situation was so bad that it became clear that the two men could no longer work together.
In fact, during a board meeting on October 30, Dr. Chesney proposed a vote on whether Homenauth should continue. However, board members wanted more time.
According to the report to the Minister, on November 12, a vote was held, where Chesney gave his nod for Homenauth’s removal while seven board members voted against.
The board members said that things went downhill then.
“On 15th November, Dr. Chesney made charges of collusion against the seven persons who voted against his motion.”

Sacked: Dr. Patrick Chesney

The Directors claimed that the Chairman then took it upon himself to appoint two persons, Brian Sears and David Fredericks, to the positions of Deputy CEO, in which they were acting.
According to the report to the Minister, “Prior to the vote, the Chairman made it abundantly clear that if the vote went in favour of the CEO, he would not find it possible to continue. It would now seem that he had no intention of resigning if he lost, but his words were dishonestly intended to manipulate the members of the board.”
The six directors urged the Minister to appoint a new Chairman from among the Directors.
They threatened to resign.
“We shall not continue as members of the board under Dr. Chesney, and we believe that it would be difficult for him to otherwise obtain a quorum of five members.”
According to the letter from the Minister, terminating Chesney’s appointment, there was a meeting between the two on 3rd December.
During that meeting, the Minister said that he considered the report of the Directors as a vote of no confidence against the chairmanship.
“Under the circumstance, I have no option but to terminate your appointment as Chairman of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute with effect from December 13, 2018.”

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