Dear Editor,
Nothing for this government will come easy, and it is why it should be very conservative on some things, if only to preserve political capital. The whole unfolding business surrounding the search for a CEO for GPL could be a case in point.
There are continuing developments, most not favourable, related to the presence of the interim CEO Mr Welch. Even if he was high up on any potential list as the successor CEO, the new administration would (should) have to think again. Certainly, former Prime Minister Sam Hind’s disclosure (‘Acting CEO of GPL had no utility experience up to 2012 –former PM Sam Hinds says in letter’ SN, August 27) neither helped matters nor burnished Mr Welch’s possible candidacy.
Right upfront I must say that, while the former prime minister did linger too long, he has retained some residual credibility. All things considered, he deserves to be listened to, and pondered.
The public is already familiar with the high voltage clash between the gone CEO and the now interim CEO. Given this is Guyana, and given the parties involved, all were scarred, including Mr Welch who is the only man left standing at this point. Value added, evaluation reports, and value at risk (personal reputations) have all come under an unrelenting and unforgiving microscope, and all have taken huge hits.
Now compliments of Mr Hinds, it is disclosed that Mr Welch lacked relevant experience to boot. It boggles the mind to comprehend what the overseers were doing in this asylum called Guyana and a place as relevant and sensitive as the GPL. There is a six million dollar CEO; there is the same CEO assessed as not up to par; and there is this deputy who lacked relevant experience. Who is doing what here? And who knows what they are doing and what has to be done are the first questions that come to mind. They smoulder. Talk about governance!
Anyhow, I daresay that Mr Welch, notwithstanding the GPL record, might be one of those proverbial high speed learners, and he could have come a long way in two to three years. The opportunity to grow in a problem plagued complex through learning on the run, with feet held to the fire might have been just the incentivizing tonics needed. On the other hand, it can spur some to act autocratically and confrontationally, as the public report attests from that storied incident, and of which Mr Welch is part of the wreckage.
So let’s see where things total: no prior relevant experience; poor (at least verbal) supervisory rating; and a public relations nightmare (look closely) from that incident. They are enough to rule out even the well qualified in today’s corporate world. The situation is immeasurably more demanding, more hair-trigger poised, and more prone to political exploitation in this particular high profile position in such a high profile national company. No, not national company, but national companion, even national domestic partner, for this is what the GPL is to each Guyanese. Therefore, the room for error in selecting the new CEO is almost nonexistent. Not in view of what happened.
Last, from my perspective, the interim CEO grows increasingly radioactive. He can become the lightning rod for the cultivation of polarization. That is, of the political and ethnic varieties. Just examine the entire sorry story and it is where all roads concretize. It is why the decision-makers among the new people need to weigh both the corporate, as well as the political, risks embedded.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
