Benn wants audit of credit union’s finances

Mar 04, 2024 News

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– cites allegations of two-year spending spree

Kaieteur News – In order to determine the financial state of the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) a proper audit needs to be conducted Trevor Benn told the media on Saturday evening, following his team’s clean sweep of the elections held at the Critchlow Labour College during the GPSCCU’s Special General Meeting.

Benn was asked by the media what would be the priority for the Union now that a new committee has been elected. He said:  “The first thing we have to do is to do a proper audit of the society. We don’t know what the state of the financials is at the moment. As you know there have been lots of allegations made about the monies that have been spent over the last two years and we want to have a full understanding of what’s going on at the moment and once we have that information, we will be able to make more definitive decisions in relation to what will happen for our members.”

He further explained that “the New Committee of Management will place our members as priority. We will do everything possible to ensure that they are given the help that they need and that they are respected in every possible way.”

Benn told the media that there have been complaints of members over the years, in relation to the difficulties they encounter to access ordinary loans. “However we know for a fact that our members have been complaining for many years in relation to the amount of hassle they have to get loans, ordinary loans.”

Looking back to a few years ago Benn noted that, “In 2018 when I first got to the Credit Union it took no less than 15 days to two months for them to get a loan of $100,000. We took that down to one day in a short space of time. My information is that it has gone up back to a substantial amount of time for these ordinary loans and we want to make sure that people coming to us for small amounts of money can get it approved the same day.”

He added that oftentimes persons may need these loans for funeral expenses or medical reasons and they do not have the time to wait when these resources are needed. Hence, he said there will be systems put in place to ensure that staff members are properly trained, so that they will be able to provide the kind of service the members need.

Saturday’s election followed a lengthy High Court fight between two factions of the credit union. Polls opened at 13:15h and closed at 17:30h. At approximately 19:34h, Returning Officer, Professor Leyland Lucas started the declaration of the results. The results delivered by Professor Lucas are as follows: Trevor L. Benn- 1816 votes,  Paul Clarke 291, Simone Allen 157,  Eslyn Harris 1490, Patrick Mentore 1636, Mehalai Mc Almont 1504, Christopher Thompson 1504,  John Anderson 1495, Judah Louisy 1408, Vanessa Kissoon 1608, Kirk Fraser 1403, Candace Enmore 1255, Beverly De John 1133, Joel Hinds 960, Marlon Cole 851, Rajdai Jagarnauth 1251, Dwight Dodson 187, Dawn Gardener 125, Patrick M. Yarde 97, Indira Thakurdin 90, Loren Park 173 and Selwyn Griffith 253.

Victory for the people

After emerging victorious, Benn told reporters that Saturday’s victory is for the members of the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union. “As you are aware, the need for this Special General Meeting was made possible by ordinary members who decided that they wanted to have better governance at the credit union, and they sought to have the management committee respond to them on issues which they felt were not in keeping with good governance at the time. They further went on to the court because the management committee did not respond to them, and so here we are two years hence for the holding of the Special General Meeting,” he said. Further, Benn said “I think it is a very good thing that members of the Credit Union are allowed to question the leadership of the organisation and to take steps necessary to bring them to account and this is what I believed happened here over the past two years.”

He reminded reporters that the road to Saturday’s elections was fought for in the country’s courts. “And in each period, the court ruled in favour of the members and I am sure they are rejoicing today that the final order of the court had been adhered to and we are at this stage here today.”

Earlier Saturday, a motion was carried by the Credit Union to elect a new Committee of Management. The motion was the third of three tabled in keeping with the orders handed down by Justice Navindra Singh in the matter of Mehalai McAlmont and others vs. Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union in December.

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• Audit, Benn, Elections, financial, Union

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