Uproar at Public Service Credit Union meeting, Labour Ministry asked to intervene

Last Updated on Monday, 4 March 2024, 11:41 by Denis Chabrol

Several outgoing members of the committee of management of the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) on Monday banged a table and shouted slogans, blocking a meeting of the newly-elected body.

Police were eventually summoned to the Hadfield Street, Georgetown head office of the credit union.

GPSCCU Outgoing Chairman, Karen Van Sluytman Corbin and a group of her committee of management have since penned a letter to the Ministry of Labour’s Chief Co-operative Development Officer, outlining several grievances about last Saturday’s election of a new Committee of Management at a Special General Meeting.

Ms Van Sluytman-Corbin, Attorney-at-Law Leslyn Noble and Saskia Eastman chanted slogans including “No meeting”, “You all ain’t had a quorum, no valid elections,” and “Get out, get out.” They also banged the table in the boardroom with bottles of water and an aerosol spray can.

Mr. Patrick Mentore, a former senior police officer, cautioned against anyone pointing their fingers in his face or committing an assault on his person.

Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton told Demerara Waves Online News that the Chief Co-operatives Development Officer would be studying the letter, consulting in-house lawyers and the Attorney General’s Chambers on the way forward. “We will do everything that is necessary at all time to protect the members,” he said. He declined to comment on whether an Interim Management Committee could be put in place to manage the affairs of the GPSCCU until all of the issues are resolved.

Mr Hamilton said if a new court case is filed, the Chief Co-operative Development Officer could be blocked from intervening. He said the Chief Co-operative Development Officer would have to meet with the parties before using the law to move forward.

According to the Labour Minister, the Van Sluytman-Corbin group complained that there were “several breaches” including a lack of quorum of 6,538 members from a total membership of 25,385 persons based on the audited report of 2021. He related that the outgoing Committee of Management said that when chairman of the Special General Meeting, Mr Mentore called the meeting to order at 11 AM Sunday, there was no quorum because the total number of participants in-person and Online was 1,907. They are also alleging that the conveyor did not provide for in-person voting in the regions unlike the previous elections.

Also being alleged are voter irregularities such as members of staff voting for others, multiple voting by one persons for several others though the rules prohibit proxy voting.

Mr Mentore last Saturday said the immediate past Committee of Management had been asked at least eight or nine times in writing for the members’ register but none was provided.