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![](https://continuedpovertyisnotanoption.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190604_202302-1024x1024.jpg)
The rollout of the reinstatement of Sherod Duncan as Guyana Chronicle general manager was a total disaster. What should have been done first was done last. As a result, there was wide spread consternation, even among government supporters.
I was in shock when I read the first Demerara Waves report on the matter. I searched for a rational explanation. What was this about no vote? This is nothing but a tongue in cheek explanation to cover the use of executive authority. What is this about no vote? This vote, as the basis for Duncan’s dismissal, stood unchallenged for weeks. I was appalled, to say the least, and I was not alone.
To be clear, I am aware of the right of Sherod Duncan to seek a review of the board’s decision to fire him. This is the norm in all adjudication and judicial processes, ranging from the courts to cricket. However, I expected the Prime Minister to say, “Having reviewed this matter, in my deliberate judgement, while Mr. Duncan is guilty of several transgressions, the punishment of dismissal was excessive. As such, I am directing the board to withdraw the letter of dismissal, and review this matter further.” Or maybe he himself could have announced Duncan’s suspension, instead of dismissal. But, what is this about no vote?
Instead I was reading a strident letter from the Prime Minister to the Chairman of the Board. To some extent, the letter appeared to impugn the integrity of Ms. Geeta Chandan-Edmond, the Chairman of the Board. This was bad optics, and the uproar on social media was significant. No one took into account that Director Mervyn Williams, who resigned in protest, is a sitting Member of Parliament for the APNU-AFC Coalition. It did not matter that Hilbert Foster, another director who resigned in protest, is an executive member within the AFC structure. There was no distinction, the entire coalition was painted with the broad brush.
Some declared Guyana a S-hole country, while others debated if we were in fact in the septic tank, the sewer, or the sewage treatment plant. There was total outrage. One commentator called on the young supporters of the Government to show themselves, but everyone was hiding.
The outage was so intense it was like a re-creation of the Hillary Clinton email server issue during the 2016 US elections. In this case Secretary Clinton was guilty of using a private email server to conduct government business. For many, this was a grossly egregious act, because it open the door for the Russians to steal state secrets. So day after day, headline after headline, the Hillary Clinton email server dominated. She became such a pariah, reputable media houses thought it was OK to publish information that was stolen from her campaign by the Russians. Day, after day, it was drip, drip, drip.
Significantly, while hounding Hillary Clinton, the media chose to ignore reports that the computers in Trump Tower were in constant communication with computers in Alpha Bank in Moscow. They shrugged when Paul Manafort was forced to resign as Campaign Chairman over actual contacts with Russians. They turned a blind eye when the Republican Party policy platform was changed at the last minute to be friendly to Russia. They had no interest in these things, they were not important. What was important was Hillary Clinton email server. They hounded her for months, and bit by bit her poll numbers dipped, and the rest is history.
With the intensity of emotions surrounding the Sherod Duncan Affair, I did wonder if this was going to be our equivalent of the Hillary Clinton email servers. I wondered this because the Sherod Duncan Affair knocked two significant issues out of the news cycle. No one was talking about the “Oil Block giveaway” or the allegations of the Auditor General “catch and kill’ efforts to prevent reports of apparent PPP corruption from becoming public.
In the case of the oil blocks, it is possible that tens of billions of United States Dollars was going to be loss to the Guyanese people, but no one was talking about that. It is possible that the companies awarded the oil blocks are just fronts for PPP officials who are the real recipients of the oil blocks, but no one was talking about that. Allegations that the Auditor General, the person entrusted with the responsibility to hunt down and expose corruption, was in fact covering up corruption involving G$700M, but no one was talking about that. The Sherod Duncan Affair was dominating, and everyone was angry.
As I fumed over this Duncan Affair, I reflected on the Clinton servers, and decided I will use the same approach I used then. Back then I accepted the use of private email servers was wrong, but I refused to become blinkered. I refused to ignore other episodes that could have been ten times as damaging as any breach of email servers could have been. I refused to be influenced by information stolen from John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee on the grounds that I did not have similar access to information on the other candidate. So as I fumed over the Sherod Duncan Affair I decided I must express disappointment, but I cannot become blinkered.
Then I saw the Guyana Chronicle article, “No Formal Vote Was Taken,” and I had to scrap most of what I had written. This article provided facts I did not previously have. I was unaware that Director Karan Chand expressed opposition to the firing of Duncan before leaving the meeting. This means that in reality four directors were against the dismissal of Duncan, while only three were in favor. I was unaware that Director Juretha Fernandes wrote Board Chairman Geeta Chandan-Edmond questioning the validity of the vote. I was unaware that Director Beverly Alert, a media professional, also questioned the formality of the vote. These were things Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo knew that I did not know.
If I had known these things I would have asked myself two questions. Firstly, I would have asked, if no formal vote was taken, why was Director Karan Chand views in support of Sherod Duncan not taken into account. There is no rule that voids your contribution to a meeting just because you leave. Secondly, I would have asked, if a formal vote was taken, why Director Karan Chand was not contacted by telephone to cast his vote. A vote to dismiss the General Manager is too important a matter for us to call a vote minutes after a Director leaves the meeting, then decide the matter on a casting vote. Either we have him vote by telephone, or we schedule the vote when all are present.
However, I am now asking myself a third question. If Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo knew all of this, why he did not put this information firmly into the public domain before rolling out the reinstatement of Sherod Duncan. As a seasoned politician he knows that politics is not only about what is done, but also about what appears to have been done. The roll out of the reinstatement gave the impression of a high handed and capricious act by his office. The impact of the negative news cycle cannot be totally erased, even though we now know that he had sufficient reason to ask for the board to withdraw the letter.
The other thing that should not escape us is Sherod Duncan himself. It is clear to me that something was off between Duncan and the Board Chairman. If this is true we might want to ask if Duncan is a team player, given the fracas he had with former Mayor Patricia Chase-Green. Surely, if he cannot work in a team he should be doing research in a fancy office somewhere. Just saying.
Good move.