The contract of Guyana Water Inc Managing Director Richard Van West-Charles has been terminated.
This was confirmed last night with Stabroek News by Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues.
It is understood that Van West-Charles’s contract has a three-month notice requirement and he will be paid up to October in lieu of such notice.
Van West-Charles would be considered by the new PPP/C government as a political appointee.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira had warned on Friday that political appointees had a week to quit their posts if not they would be terminated beginning yesterday.
Van West-Charles has had a close relationship with the former governing coalition and had been associated with both of its leading partners APNU and the AFC.
He became Managing Director of GWI shortly after the coalition acceded to office in 2015.
On Thursday, Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal and Rodrigues were welcomed to GWI during their first visit since being appointed to head the sector. A GWI release had said that during their visit Van West-Charles introduced GWI’s Corporate Management Team and gave a presentation on the utility’s achievements and challenges to date.
According to the release. Van West-Charles said that GWI had made many strides including first- time water access for some 24,000 residents, reducing chemical treatment, drilling more wells and the installation of 20,000 meters of pipelines. He explained that COVID-19 has presented some challenges with increased water consumption and lower revenue but noted that the utility has managed to maintain a continuous supply to the populace.
The Ministers were also given a tour of the Shelterbelt Water Treatment Plant led by Van West-Charles and Executive Director of Operations, Dwayne Shako.
