– chairman says allegations baseless
Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President Colwyn King yesterday accused the Board of President’s College of irregularities and financial mismanagement, setting off a war of words with Chairman David De Groot, who dismissed the allegations as baseless.
At a press conference held at GTU headquarters, King said there was no financial statement from the Board for the last seven years. Noting that the college spends $362,000 per child every year, King said where self sufficiency should prevail, the opposite occurs.
The GTU president also alleged that funds are controlled by the college’s head teacher, which he said is not supposed to happen. He also claimed that Simpson Da Silva was illegally removed from chairing the college’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) because he did not stand for the corruption at the school. A German national, Hans Metzer, replaced Da Silva as PTA chairman and King claimed the board colluded with the Education Ministry to remove Da Silva after he had pioneered a poultry project and an IT project, both funded by the EU. King said: “They can’t get their hands in the coffers to steal the money [with Da Silva there] and so they fired him.”
De Groot, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the college, when contacted by Stabroek News, said King had no basis to make any definitive statements. He said auditing of the school’s accounts was routine. “Auditing is done by the Auditor General’s office,” he explained, though he could not say offhand when the last audit was done. He said it was a matter that the accountant would be better able to pronounce on.
De Groot said Da Silva had held the position of PTA chairman for one year and members of the PTA accepted a motion to remove him. Although he called it a PTA matter, De Groot said the members “had no faith in his [Da Silva’s] stewardship.”
De Groot said Da Silva had floated the ideas for the projects and they were accepted by the Board. When prompted further, he said Da Silva had also negotiated with the EU for the funds but added that he was working with a mandate from the Board.
In response to King’s allegations that the college is no longer self sufficient, De Groot said that “we have a vibrant poultry farm… we have an agriculture sub-committee headed by Dr Austin.”
King said that no vegetables were produced at the college, but were purchased at twice the price from a man who also recently became a contractor doing repairs at the school. But De Groot also refuted these allegations saying again that both King and Da Silva have very slender grounds on which they are basing their allegations.
The GTU president said further that the college is currently without running water, something which has been ongoing for awhile now. He said that he has been calling for immediate investigation into the college for some time now and had brought it to the attention of Education Minister, Shaik Baksh. Discussions were held last Friday, King said, and Baksh promised that an investigation will be launched soon.
He added that while the union wants a representative on the investigating panel, the minister said that will not happen, a position that King found unsatisfactory. He said “the union cannot trust the ministry” and promised to keep pressing on the situation.
