Former Chief Election Officer Boodoo resigns from local gov’t

-had been earning $500,000, new minister says unsure of what he was doing

-Regional Executive Officers likely to be replaced

 

Former Chief Election Officer Gocool Boodoo earned close to half a million dollars per month as a consultant for the Ministry of Local Government but has since resigned his position according to new Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan who said he is unclear as to what services were provided by Boodoo.

Bulkan told Stabroek News yesterday that following the May 11th general elections, Boodoo, who had an office staffed with a secretary and other persons, resigned his position even though he would have liked to have met with him to discuss various matters.

Boodoo’s contract with Gecom was not renewed, after expiring on April 30, 2013, following a majority vote against rehiring him. He had been blamed for an embarrassing near-announcement that the PPP/C had won a parliamentary majority at the 2011 general elections when it hadn’t. Shortly after the non-renewal of the contract, it was announced that he was at the ministry as a consultant.

“Gocool Boodoo is the consultant who is establishing the electoral unit in the Ministry of the Local Government,” then Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon told this newspaper in November of last year.

Gocool Boodoo
Gocool Boodoo
Ronald Bulkan
Ronald Bulkan

“It has to do with ensuring we are prepared for local government elections. We play our part, helping with things like public awareness and this and that, stuff like that… what is Gecom’s (Guyana Elections Commission) role and what is ours,” then Minister of Local Government Norman Whittaker had said later. No local government elections were held.

“He never came to work. That was the strange thing…I was hoping to have the opportunity to get a report from Mr Boodoo (on) what basically were his functions but I never got that opportunity to be able to learn what he was doing,” the minister said yesterday.

The minister also confirmed that former Minister of Local Government Clinton Collymore, who was employed as an advisor to then Minister Whittaker has been fired. Bulkan said that when he assumed duties he was informed that Collymore and Whittaker were at the ministry up to May 15th-one day before President David Granger was sworn in. Bulkan said that he enquired about the former minister and left messages that he wanted to see him as soon as he reported for work as he wanted to find out about his duties and the nature of the advice he gave to the minister. He had also hoped to get copies of reports he would have given to the minister.

Because he had not turned up for work for more than three days without a valid reason or a medical, which is required under the public service rules, Bulkan said Collymore was advised that this represented voluntary separation.

He said about a week and a half after, Collymore appeared at his office asking to see him but never actually turned up to work. The minister said he could not see him and that the ministry had already made the determination that he would have been let go.

“He walked off the job but I have been unable to find out what advice he was giving to the minister…” Bulkan said, adding that when he visited Collymore’s office “it was like a jungle and it was impossible to find anything.”

His office has now been converted into the office of Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Dawn Hastings.

 

REOs

This was the state of the Ministry of Local Government’s boardroom when new Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan took up office.
This was the state of the Ministry of Local Government’s boardroom when new Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan took up office.

Meantime, the minister told Stabroek News that most, if not all, of the Regional Executive Officers (REOs) would be replaced because not only were they political appointees, they were also contract workers which according to him indicates that they did not see working in the public service as a career move.

According to the Minister, nine of the ten REOs were employed as contract workers except for the person in Region Two, who is acting in his position. He said that the controversial REO of Region 8 (Potaro/ Siparuni) Ronald Harsawack has not returned to his position since he resigned to be a candidate on the PPP/C’s electoral list. While the Alliance For Change had won the Chairmanship of that region in 2011 in a coalition with A Partnership for National Unity, the council had repeatedly complained that Harsawack was stifling it, bypassing its authority and in the run-up to the last elections campaigned for the ruling party. In 2015, the PPP/C narrowly won the region, doubling its votes. Raphael Downes has since been appointed as acting REO of that region, Bulkan disclosed.

Of the other eight REOs on contract, three-Regions 3, 4 and 7- have their contracts coming to an end in two weeks with the remainder seeing their contracts ending in January of next year.

Region 4’s REO, Deolall Rooplall was also controversial and was previously dismissed by the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) by way of a no-confidence motion which was not approved by then Minister of Local Government Ganga Persaud. The region had accused the REO of the overextension of his responsibility which infringed on the RDC’s functions and that he had refused to account for $126 million in savings approved for the 2012 Work Plan.

Deolall had taken over from Shafdar Alli, who also had several run-ins with the council but was finally removed by the Ministry of Local Government for alleged irregularities.

The minister also confirmed that Region Nine’s REO Claire Singh was sent on leave. Documents that she had to hand over in relation to what she was working on bore a date prior to the elections which was scratched out and changed indicating that “she understood that she was playing an overt political role and that with a change in administration it was untenable for her to remain there”, Bulkan said.

He added that the fate of the remaining REOs would be determined case by case as most if not all of the REOs were political appointees.

Region 3 REO Donald Gajraj has also been sent on leave.

“In the tenth Parliament the APNU was very critical of the management administration of what we saw as the politicization of the operations and management of the regions and we criticized and condemned that political dimension…that was being practised in the management of our RDCs and the management of the regions,” the minister said yesterday.

He contended that the political appointees as REOs were usurping the authority of the councils which he said was “perverse”.

“It was undemocratic and as I said it was perverse,” the minister said, adding that he would have spoken repeatedly against this situation and that having condemned it the coalition government is duty-bound to reverse those conditions.

Bulkan said it is expected that the new members of the Regional Democratic Councils would be sworn in by the end of this month. It is not clear if the PPP/C-which won seven of the ten regions-would be participating in this process as the party is yet to identify its Members of Parliament and has not stated whether it would be taking up its 32 seats.

Asked how he was going to go about appointing new REOs in light of the fact that a campaigner for the APNU+AFC, Carl Parker is now the acting REO of Region Nine, the minister stated that the Parker was a member of the regional administration as an officer of the Ministry of Local Government but was forced out “as a result of political interference.”

“This was a professional officer who was prevented from executing his duties and was forced out from the public service because he sought to bring professionalism and not partisan political considerations so I think we need not to forget that the current acting REO was an officer within the public service and based in that very jurisdiction,” the minister said.

He continued that the criteria would be established for the hiring of new REOs which among other things would encompass qualifications, experience and, based on President Granger’s recent announcement, entry by persons into the public service would have to be anchored on merit and performance.

Carol Sooba

Bulkan was also questioned about the future of the acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba with the Georgetown Mayor & City Council. She was sent on leave last week after a motion of no-confidence was passed against her by the council. Bulkan said it is known that Sooba was one of the “most contentious and controversial public officers within our local democratic construct.”

He said from the outset she was deemed to be unqualified, unsuitable and unfit for the position by the APNU and the municipality, pointing out that the council had passed several successful no-confidence motions against her.

“Miss Sooba was actually foisted, imposed on the municipality of Georgetown to carry out the dictates of the central government via the ministry. In the process she has visited untold damage to the Georgetown council and as it is with many other appointees in the local government construct, Miss Sooba’s retention in that position is really untenable,” he said.

He said on the completion of her leave she would be asked to appear before a disciplinary hearing to defend her stewardship and conduct during the time she was there.

He said that as minister he would ensure that the acting Town Clerk as a woman and as a public servant would receive fair treatment and that she “would not be discriminated against or victimized in any way out of any irrelevant or extraneous considerations.”

It is her performance during the period she acted as Town Clerk which would be scrutinized. Asked if she would be retained in any position at the municipality should she so desire, the minister said any position would have to be commensurate with her qualifications. He pointed out that she did not meet the criteria that were established by the committee appointed by the local government ministry for the position of Town Clerk. He said there “maybe and could be advertisements for a new Town Clerk.”

Meanwhile, Bulkan said that yesterday was the first time he managed to have a meeting with all staff members of the ministry because of the unavailability of the boardroom which was used as a storage room for equipment and other items purchased under the clean-up campaign project.

The items were removed and are now being distributed to various regions.