Provide information or don’t assume office- govt tells newly-elected Public Service Coop Credit Union management committee

Last Updated on Tuesday, 5 March 2024, 15:55 by Denis Chabrol

The Ministry of Labour’s Chief Cooperatives Development Officer (CCDO) has told the 12-member Committee of Management of the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) to prove that they were elected last Saturday in free and fair elections or they must not assume office.

CCDO, Mr Janaknauth Panchu asked Chairman of the Special General Meeting, Patrick Mentore to provide several pieces of information in light of claims that he did not provide the quorum when he called the meeting t0 order at 10:50 AM; at 11 AM Rodes IT Services representative Andre Samuel informed that there were 513 persons online; both physical and online attendance was 1,907 and approximately 1,900 persons voted.

The CCDO requested Mr Mentore to provide a list of persons who attended the Special General Meeting virtually and physically, list of persons who voted in the election, and confirm that the credit union has 25,385 members.

“Unless the above is provided, yourself and other members must refrain from assuming the duties of the Committee of Management or transact any business whatsoever on behalf of the Credit Union,” he told Mr Mentore in his letter dated March 4, 2024.

When contacted on Tuesday, Mr Mentore would only say “we will respond to the letter.”

Mr Panchu asked Mr Mentore to note that Regulations 17 and 21 of the Cooperative Societies Act 88:01 “clearly state” how a quorum is determined for a Special General Meeting and how a Committee of Management can be replaced. Against that background, the CCDO also asked Mr Mentore to “show that the said two regulations were complied with.”

At the Special General Meeting on Saturday, Mr Mentore had told Demerara Waves Online News that prior to that event the then Committee of Management had not responded to eight or nine written requests for the register of members. Told that at Special General Meeting held last year had been aborted because an estimated 5,000 of the 25,000 odd members did not turn up to form a quorum, Mr Mentore said that many of those were dead, delinquent and dormant members.

The CCDO’s letter was copied to Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour Toussaint Jr. Thomas-Meerabux, Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, and Karen Van Sluytman-Corbin who is holding herself out as Chairman of the Committee of Management.

Mr Panchu’s letter stemmed from Ms Van Sluytman-Corbin’s formal complaint that Saturday’s Special General Members Meeting breached the Cooperative Societies Act 88:01