President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Patrick Yarde yesterday roundly condemned Minister of Natural Resources & the Environment, Robert Persaud for his public dressing down of Commis-sioner of the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC) Karen Livan and accused him of trying to undermine her.
Yarde speaking at a press conference yesterday accused Persaud of taking his “eyes to pass” Livan and being “extremely disrespectful” to her. Several efforts to contact Persaud yesterday for a comment proved futile. He answered his mobile phone later in the evening but was unable to speak since he informed that he was in a meeting.
“…the outburst by the Minister of Natural Resources & Environment [was] very unprofessional, unethical, disrespectful and embarrassing and humiliating to the commissioner and the staff of the GGMC,” Yarde said.
He was at the time referring to Persaud’s public ridiculing of Livan at an interactive forum held with the Brazilian community following a claim by a miner that he was given permission by the GGMC to mine on a government reserve this year. Following this claim Persaud accused the GGMC of permitting lawlessness and addressed Livan by her first name at times as he reprimanded her. It was later proven that the miner had gotten the permission last October, not this year, and before Persaud had ordered the freezing of permits on state land to begin in December of last year.
“What seems very clear to me is that he seems to have an agenda of harassing Mrs Livan…attempting to undermine her performance and effective management of the geology and mines commission which seems to be consistent with…his motive of attempting to remove her from the time she was appointed commissioner,” a charged up Yarde told members of the media.
He said that unwarranted and flagrant attacks on the management and staff of the GGMC must stop.
“If one should look at a tape when the minister was conducting his masquerading show you would have seen a staff of the GGMC [gleefully] laughing…he seems to be very happy about what was taking place,” Yarde stated.
He said that the union is satisfied that Livan is an efficient professional and she must be given the opportunity to function. And even if there was any merit in the accusation, Yarde said that it was inappropriate for the minister to behave in the manner that he did.
Yarde also spoke about a move by Persaud to evict some staff members from the GGMC compound to accommodate him and his ministry there.
According to Yarde, Persaud is operating as if he is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) de facto of the GGMC and wants to deal with the day-to-day management of the commission and the union has been taking note. Yarde pointed out that the GGMC’s act clearly states that the commissioner is the CEO of the mines commission.
He charged that the permanent secretary of the ministry has also been interfering with the commission’s work. The GPSU president also pointed out that the union represents workers from several other agencies such as the GRA, GPL and the Guyana Energy Agency and has never experienced any such interference from the subject ministers.
He said that the union earlier this year was forced to represent Livan who reportedly was about to be bypassed for the position of commissioner by Persaud who wanted to appoint someone who had left the GGMC years ago. On the intervention of the union, Livan was appointed but the reputedly favoured individual was also re-employed with the GGMC and Yarde said that the individual’s performance was expected to be assessed. He said following the intervention, the union had met with Persaud and he (Yarde) was under the impression that they had resolved the issue. Since that meeting and following some correspondence Yarde said Persaud has not kept his commitment and acted in good faith.
According to Yarde they had agreed for the re-employment of the individual up to the period of Livan’s retirement and that the period should serve as one of assessment.
He questioned what is in place to enable that assessment. He said that the individual now has authority independent of the commissioner.
Livan reaches the age of retirement later this year but may proceed on leave by June and there have already been moves for her to hand over. Yarde called for Livan to be left to perform her duties without interference.
He said the union has also had cause to write President Donald Ramotar about its concerns about the GGMC and has only received an acknowledgement.
“At this stage I would like to know if this is the mandate that he has given to Minister Robert Persaud to treat with people at the GGMC,” questioned Yarde.
He said there are reports of arbitrary changes in conditions of service and employment such as placing employees on contract in positions that are supposed to be permanent while the decisions of the CEO and management are being countered by the minister.
Yarde said the union has been patient and has requested to meet with the minister and the board but to no avail and it will no longer sit and allow transgressions to occur.
He said there is a breakdown at the GGMC but there is a need to get to the root cause of it since people are giving instructions to staff members without the commissioner’s knowledge.
