Rosignol Fishing Complex’s IMC accused of mismanagement

May 25, 2021 News

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– Government’s intervention being sought

By Malisa Playter-Harry

Kaieteur News – Fishermen and security personnel attached to the Rosignol Fishing Complex are accusing the facility’s Interim Management Committee (IMC), which was formed in 2019 to improve its operation over a six-month period, of not only prolonging its stay but gross mismanagement. The group of affected individuals, who engaged the media on Tuesday, spoke of the dilapidated state of the complex and noted that they have been forced to work under wanting conditions.

Prior to the implementation of the IMC, the Rosignol Fishermen Coop Society had responsibility for the complex; however, there were reportedly internal issues among the members and a petition was filed by some of them to have the Coop’s chairman replaced. The matter was brought to the attention of the management of the Coop and a decision was made by the Chief Coop Officer (CCO) to disband it and have an IMC in place for a period of six months. The IMC commenced operation in June 2019. The fishermen, however, are contending that since the IMC was put in place, the state of the facility became progressively worse.
Deodat Gildarie, a 51-year-old man who is employed as a security guard, said that he and the majority of the old workers were employed by the Coop. He said that in 2019 when the IMC was put in place, they were informed of the new development. He said that since then, they have not been receiving their salaries in a timely manner and are currently owed salaries for a month and a half.

“So, they told us that they are here for six months to help the Coop to be more efficient, but six months passed and they are still here. In 2020, we start to experience our salary falling back. We (use to) get paid every two weeks (but) when the fortnight ends you getting one week late, and then two weeks late, and when we start to speak out for our salary, we start get victimisation from management,” Gildarie related.
He said that he and three other security guards have not been paid since April, and they have since been informed that there are no finances available to facilitate such payments.
“Now we are over one and a half months, we ain’t get paid since April. We owe the shopkeeper all kinda things; we stop getting credit from the shop, we owe GPL, GWI, the people looking to disconnect and so we must find means. Before the new management was in place, the salary was never late. I reported to the Ministry of Labour in April and they said they would investigate it. When we talk about our salary the management say ‘when we get money y’all going to come to work’,” said Gildarie.
As he lamented the predicament he and the other security guards are faced with, Gildarie appealed for President, Irfaan Ali, to intervene on their behalf. The man noted too, that the failure on the part of the IMC to pay them should have never materialised since it has been in a better financial position.
He revealed that while under the Coop, the ice factory that operates within the complex had operated there for free but since the IMC was installed, a monthly rental had become compulsory.

“The members were running the Society with no rent from the ice factory and we were getting our salary up to date and now they getting $300,000 a month and we not getting our salary. The other thing is, that we are taxpayers and when we found out that there is no tax paying for us but our tax deducting, I went to GRA and found out that,” he disclosed.
Meanwhile, 50-year-old Raymond Nazrudeen, who has been a fisherman for most of his life and was also a member of the Coop Society when it was in place, has concluded that it is bad management that has put them in such a situation.
“We run the Fisherman Coop and we had $2.5M in the bank, and we did not like what the Coop was doing, and we wrote a letter to Ms. Gibbs who was the CCO at the time. Subsequently, she brought a team and said these are the people that are gonna be a part of the interim body (IMC)…. They take over with $2.5M in the bank and presently there is only $80,000 in the bank. The blame goes solely on Ms. Gibbs because she bring the IMC. This place might look lil old and whatever, but it brings food to people and we cannot work like this. We have no money to build up the wharf right now and all we can do is ask the Government to investigate this,” Nazrudeen stressed.

Currently the fishermen are required to pay fees between $3,000 and $5,000 per month to moor their boats at the wharf and this publication was able to confirm that a rent of $300,000 per month is being collected from the ice factory. Despite the monthly income, the fishermen are insisting that the condition of the complex remains in a very deplorable state.
Sharmilla, only name provided, is the lone female worker in the complex. She is also currently employed as a security guard but was formerly a cleaner there. Like the others, she too is owed salary for one and a half months. “They suppose to pay me and when I came in to them Monday, they say they have no salary. The people say if we continue to work, they will see about payment, so we are working right now without any payment. I am calling on the minister and president to see we have we pay. I have bills to pay…me is a poor woman so I can’t sit down in this country, we have to work,” Sharmilla said.

Efforts by this publication to reach out to the IMC for a comment proved futile. In fact, when checks were made, the door of its office was padlocked. Kaieteur News has learnt too that Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, had visited the complex about a month ago and the issues were raised with him. He had promised then to intervene.

 

 

 

 

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