Nothing’s wrong with Guysuco’s Board composition- Luncheon

Last Updated on Thursday, 21 August 2014, 22:33 by GxMedia

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon on Thursday dismissed criticisms that the Board of Directors of the tottering state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) was stacked with political lackeys.

Luncheon claimed that globally board members of most government outfits are appointed exclusively by the Executive and drawn mostly from among pro-government persons. He noted that provision for the President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand to sit on the board is “but that’s all I think inclusivity extends.” “We are not doing what anyone else is not doing,”  he added.

Asked how government intended to mobilize broad-based national support behind the resuscitation of Corporation, Luncheon opted to observe that the presence of the opposition in parliament has not brought the country any good. “The parliament, if I were to use an example, is filled with representatives of the opposition and I don’t believe that is itself an indication of any success in getting national consensus on anything. As a matter of fact, to my mind if I might say so- the more opposition is the more confusion,” he said.

Under the chairmanship of Shaik Baksh, the other members are Dunstan Barrow, Chairman, Board of Directors, Linden Enterprise Network (LEN), Dr. Dindyal Permaul, Chief Executive Officer, Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), Keith Burrowes, Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Badri Persaud, Managing Director, Guyana Oil (Guyoil) and Geeta Singh-Knight. Current CEO, Dr. Raj Singh, sits on the board as an ex-officio member.

The state-owned Government Information Agency (GINA) has reported that Chand has refused the offer to sit on the board.