Sherod Duncan has been removed from his position as General Manager of the Guyana Chronicle.
Stabroek News understands that following an hours-long meeting the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL) board by majority vote dismissed Duncan from the post based on the findings of an Audit into his three-month stewardship of the entity.
Efforts to reach Duncan who was present for the first part of yesterday’s meeting proved futile but his lawyer James Bond indicated that he has not yet been informed of the board’s decision.
“We attended a hearing and they indicated they would call us once a decision was made. However, neither I nor Mr. Duncan have received a call,” Bond said.
Board Chair, Geeta Chandan-Edmond told Stabroek News on Saturday that the Board had received the final report of the Audit on March 18 and would meet yesterday to make a decision on the way forward.
“Once a decision has been taken we will issue a statement,” she had indicated. However up to press time no statement had been issued and Chandan-Edmond could not be reached for comment.
On Saturday several sections of the media received excerpts from a document purported to be the final report.
The report which was prepared by Auditing firm Chateram Ramdihal Chartered Accountants Professional Services Firm, on contract from the Office of the Auditor General recommends that necessary disciplinary action be taken against the officer(s) responsible for the breaches to the tender board rules and regulations as well as the non-compliance with the Human resource and Administrative policies and procedures of GNNL.
This document, like the draft report submitted to the Board of GNNL on January 23 and seen by this newspaper, notes that tender rules were flouted; services were acquired by the company without contracts; and payments were made on invoices with inadequate details, without passage through established approval process and on invoices that bear no mark of authentication such as business stamps or signature.
Additionally, cash advances given to Duncan for overseas and local travel are still to be cleared, as he has not provided the necessary documents to support expenditure; while the company’s personnel policy and procedures manual was ignored during the recruitment, termination and dismissal of several employees.
The audit examined the overall management and governance of the GNNL for the period of June 1, 2018 to September 10, 2018.
Duncan was appointed General Manager in June and immediately began to aggressively upgrade the company’s social media presence, making several expenditures which the draft audit report noted were not part of the GNNL’s 2018 Budget. Costs associated with the Social Media Department alone totaled some $2,346,549, none of which was budgeted for.
“It is best practice that any deviation from the company’s approved plan is sought at the level of the Board of Directors or the subject Minister in the absence of a board before implementation. No approval was seen in this regard,” the draft report stated.
Additionally, Duncan travelled to New York and Lethem as part of different promotional campaigns, which cost the company $936,028.
