Dear Editor,
It was reported in SN of August 17, that Bharrat Dindyal, until recently the chief executive officer (CEO) of Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) was relieved of his duties by David Patterson, Minister of Public Infrastructure. Elsewhere views were expressed that his dismissal was due to political interference which was racially motivated.
These sentiments are unfortunate in a rather polarized society as the circumstances for Mr Dindyal’s demise suggest otherwise. Firstly, in most democratic countries, newly elected governments more often than not usually change the heads of key departments at the start of their administrations because they want to have qualified people in key positions who share their ideals and can execute their policies. The APNU+AFC government is no different since they have to be answerable to the people who elected them and they could be booted out of office as the PPP recently experienced if they fail to perform.
Further, those who are familiar with the administration of GPL know that Mr Dindyal was an incompetent CEO who failed to provide the Guyanese people with a reliable and affordable source of electricity. Regular black-outs and brown-outs were the order of the day. Thefts of electricity were at a high level. The accounting system was in shambles as two of the staff paid themselves hefty wages without Board approval while subsidized electricity was given to selected groups as the utility accumulated heavy losses, and although high fuel costs were a factor in these losses poor management was a major contributor. Under Mr Dindyal’s watch the Vreed-en-Hoop power plant chalked up large time and costs overruns.
Any Guyanese who wanted a faulty meter replaced or a new power connection to his property experienced long waits for such a service, but if he wanted to move things along quickly and had the resources to do so he had to, “grease the pole.” I could attest to that.
Mr Dindyal had scant notion about what his staff was doing and how well they performed in executing their duties, or for that matter how GPL should have been managed to provide the intended service reliably and efficiently. Hopefully the newly appointed CEO of GPL would be able to get the utility back on track to provide Guyanese with a reliable electricity supply at reasonable cost.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
USA
