There is a tide in the affairs of men…
The Stabroek News of Sunday, April 26, 2009 carried a report on the Annual General Meeting of the New Building Society (NBS). The caption was ‘Concern-ed members wring three agreements from NBS board – CLCIO bonds purchase still a troubling issue.’
Why was Cotton Tree Primary School chosen for the meeting of the NBS members? It would seem that the NBS Directors were seeking to avoid their concerned members. There cannot be many NBS members at Cotton Tree, and there is no denying that Georgetown has the majority of members and is easy of access for members in Linden and on the Essequibo Coast.
However 13 Concerned Members, with Christopher Ram, Chartered Accountant; Leslie Sobers, Attorney-at-Law; and Cyril Walker, Chairman of the Concerned Members, travelled to Cotton Tree and wrung agreements from the board, as indicated in the Stabrok News report.
The Directors of the NBS had included in the Order Paper for the meeting a motion:
‘To approve that the mortgage ceiling be increased from $1M to $12M and such other sum as decided by the Board and approved by the Minister of Finance.’
The Concerned Members did not approve of the permission being given to the board to raise mortgages to any sum and accordingly opposed this motion. The board conceded and removed the final part of the motion limiting the mortgages to $12M.
The board agreed that a sub-loan committee with specific terms of reference be established. Mr Ram was tasked with preparing the terms of reference and was optimistic that the commitment would be honoured.
The NBS members were also concerned that the NBS supervision did not fall under the Bank of Guyana. However, a report in the Stabroek News of April 28 carried the headline ‘NBS to fall under the supervision of Bank of Guyana’ with a sub-title ‘Governor citis management issues.’
Concerned Members noted that the Bank of Guyana has been inspecting the books of NBS, the last inspection being in 2007.
All members of the NBS should be grateful to the Concerned Members who attended the meeting, and should appreciate that an inroad has been made for the NBS board to recognise that the NBS belongs to its members and their concerns should be heard.
It is now time for all members of the NBS to play an active part in the society and Concerned Members should make it a duty to attend General Meetings when invited. On May 7 such a meeting was held at St. Stanislaus Collage. It was agreed at that meeting to establish a permanent body. A steering committee was elected to draft rules for such a body.
In closing, I would like to remind all NBS members of the passage from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries,
On such a full sea are we now afloat
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures.
If you do not participate and lend your support, you will not be helping the cause of the NBS Concerned Members and you will have yourselves to blame if the tide turns against us in the future.
