Battle for control of public service credit union...

Cooperative Societies Act, members could demand from the committee that a special general meeting be called. “A special meeting of members may be convened at any time by the committee; and on receipt of a demand stating the object of the proposed meeting signed by not less than one fifth of the members of the registered society, if such society is composed of not more than 100 members, or by twenty-five members if such society consists of more than one hundred members, it shall be the duty of the Chairman of the committee to convene such a meeting giving eight days’ notice. if the Chairman of the committee fails to convene the meeting within fourteen days from the receipt of a demand as aforesaid, the members applying for such a meeting will have the right to convene the meeting by notice which must contain the object of the proposed meeting and a statement to the effect that the meeting is convened on the failure of the Chairman of the committee to convene the meeting demanded…” it states.

The committee and its members have been at loggerheads over the No Confidence Motion it said was brought against Benn.

Last Monday, management committee secretary, Gillian Pollard, told a meeting of the credit union that the committee no longer supports Benn’s leadership and that he released confidential information while appearing on social media shows. This, the committee members said was a breach of the rules governing the credit union.

She stated that the relationship between the committee and Benn began to slide after he lobbied members of the Board to have him hold both the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Credit Union. The secretary of the Board disclosed that the suggestion was voted against since it was felt he would have been answerable only to himself and given ultimate power and unhindered authority.

However, Benn on Monday stated that it was never his intention to hold the post permanently, and he had explained to the committee that it was a temporary arrangement. He noted that there is currently a hearing in court on the transition from Secretary General to CEO.

Benn has said that he was surprised to learn of the move against him since it was planned without him being given notice and time to respond to the allegations therein, as would be required by law. “I was never told about a meeting, nor the outcome,” Benn had said.

He said that his position as Chairman is not an Executive Chair position and he has refused any subcommittee position “since I felt every committee member should be given an opportunity to sit on these sub committees.”

The GPSCCU is currently led by a committee which was elected on April 11. This committee comprises of members of an interim management committee (IMC) which was installed in 2018. This newspaper understands that they were given a mandate by approximately 1,000 of the credit union’s 23,000 membership.

In 2019, Benn was appointed as head of the IMC and had told Stabroek News that much development had taken place since the interim body was installed.

“I would say that we have taken the Credit Union to a new level and that is what is affecting the old management team…We inherited a system where there was a committee called the Modernisation Committee where members of the Management Committee were also members and collecting stipends as both, yet we have not seen what became modern under them,” Benn said then.

Prior to the installation of the IMC, the credit union’s management had accused then Junior Social Protection Minister, Keith Scott, of “financial bullyism” after he requested that the union pay over $49 million in retroactive contributions to an Audit and Supervision Fund for the years 2002 to 2013. The credit union held that it had been granted a waiver by former Minister of Labour, Nanda Gopaul and had said that Scott was obstructing the release of the 2011 to 2013 audit reports, therefore, blocking the holding of its AGM, and as a result, the payment of dividends to members. It was also stated that the ministry refused to audit the 2014 to 2016 records.