Trevor Benn unveils team to contest upcoming GPSCCU elections

Oct 14, 2022 News

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By Zena Henry

Kaieteur News – Ousted Chairman of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union (GPSCCU), Trevor Benn, on Wednesday unveiled his list of candidates to contest the upcoming elections of the financial institution, following months of standoff, which culminated last week with a court order.

The team was revealed during a special meeting of concerned Credit Union members which took place at the Critchlow Labour College. Rivaling factions of the GPSCCU are expected to go to polls October 24 at the New Central High School from 08:00hrs. Based on demands by Credit Union members, and subsequently, an order of the High Court, Former Member of Parliament, Vanessa Kissoon, Chartered Accountant, Judah Louisy, Kurt Fraser, Attorney- at- Law, Christopher Thompson, Trade Unionist, Eslyn Harris, Candace Enmore, Beverley De Jonge, Mehalai Mc Almont, Patrick Mentore, Marlon Cole, and Dr. John Anderson are all expected to join Benn as they vie for posts on the Credit Union’s Committee of Management (COM).

Wednesday’s meeting saw discussions regarding the Credit Union’s work under the Chairmanship of Benn while discussions also addressed the upcoming elections and what it should entail. Thompson, who served as the Credit Union’s in-house Attorney said that based on the High Court ruling, the current COM must ensure to the best of its ability, that members are not disenfranchised despite clear evidence by the current COM to circumvent the order of the court. Credit Union members have already registered concerns regarding adequate facilities for them to cast their votes. Thompson said that “the court order is that the Special General Meeting has to follow the exact model and template as the last Annual General meeting,” and as such a polling station has to be placed in every region, while online voting must be available, he said.

Kissoon for her part told the gathering that since Benn assumed the Chairmanship there has been great improvement at the Credit Union, including the delivery of service. She said that apart from the upgrading of the physical environment and facilities to make members’ visit to the Head Office more accommodating, new opportunities were introduced- some of which she indicated have caused the very rift that has now led to the elections.

“You know why we getting this fight, because of the car loans and the mortgages,” Kissoon told the audience. She said that some of the nine persons on the current COM already got loans for their car or mortgage and are now trying to stop the progress for others. “But we are not stopping the progress because we have seen under the stewardship of comrade Benn that this Credit Union can do a lot” Kissoon submitted. She noted however that the new facilities at the Credit Union have gotten some persons “itchy” as Public Servants will no longer have to look outside of the organisation for their necessary loans.

Judah Louisy said that he left as Finance Manager of the Credit Union just six weeks ago since he was not pleased with the direction of the Credit Union. He said that the COM refused to consider investing its money after it was noticed as of December 2020 that almost $2B was sitting in the bank garnering no interest. He said that despite paying for a plot of land where the Credit Union would build its Headquarter/complex, Executives had to fight the COM from engaging in somewhat of a ‘BOOT’ arrangement where it wanted a Colombian company to build the facility which they would own and utilise and then transfer after some years, while the Credit Union occupied a small section of the building. As it relates to the car loans and mortgages, the former Finance Manager said that the COM is being untruthful to claim that the loans were pilot programmes. He urged members to request an extract of the minutes from the meeting where the facilities were approved to see that there was no mention of the new opportunities being pilot programmes.

A petition by the GPSCCU members is demanding that after the current COM members are voted out, nine of those persons never serve on the board again. They are Secretary, Gillian Pollard, Karen Van Sluytman-Corbin, Ruth Howard, Saskia Eastman-Onwuzirike, Charles Ogle, Kirwyn Mars, Jermaine Hermanstyne, Leslyn Noble, and Arthur Gibbs.

The COM members had voted Benn out as Chairman of the Committee which enraged Credit Union members who were happy with the Chairman’s performance. Benn was able to garner hundreds of signatures in a petition for a Special General Meeting within 14 days. The COM refused to adhere to the members’ petition and was thus taken to court. Thompson said that he offered clear legal advice against the COM fighting the members’ court case and for this, he said he was fired. Despite the firm legal grounds on which the applicants stood, the COM went ahead utilizing some $3.5m of Credit Union money to fight the members’ demands for the Special Meeting.

The COM faction which voted Karen Van Sluytman-Corbin as Chairman after ousting Benn said in full paid newspaper advertisement yesterday that it would be hosting the Special General Meeting based on the ruling of High Court Judge, Justice Navindra Singh. It said it is committed to the “fiduciary duty to act in the interest of all its members and the Credit Union as a whole.” They clarified that misleading information was being peddled by the previous Chairman (Benn), reiterating that the car loans and mortgages were on a ‘pilot run’, a decision taken at a 2021 statutory meeting. They said it’s disheartening that the former Chair is misrepresenting the facts- the same chairman who lobbied the COM to merge his Chairmanship with the post of CEO. They said that “leadership is truly choosing service over self-interest.”

Wednesday’s meeting ended with Benn thanking his new team who he called “Warriors for the Credit Union.” He said that those persons have been proactive in demanding and making their voices heard including, one member, who among others, took the current COM to court. Benn said that “the team that we have is the winning team. What we ask of them is to make sure we remain a united team that we continue to serve the interest of the members and not personal interest that we are seeing today among some of the previous colleagues.” As Benn had put the last COM together, he said it is understandable if persons second guess, but he is sure this time around.

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