GUYANA | Public Service Cooperative Credit Union to hold Special General Meeting Feb 5 After Appeal Court Go-Ahead

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, January 238, 2024 - Two years after he was unceremoniously removed as Chairman of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Limited (GPSCCU) Trevor Benn may on February 5 be given another chance to lead the organization.

Following a decision by Justice Justice Navindra Singh, who on the 15th day of December 2023, ordered inter alia that the Special General Meeting of the Credit Union be held on the 5th day of February, 2024, applications were filed seeking Stays of Execution against the Order.

On Thursday Justices Naresh Harnanan and Damone Younge sitting in the Full Court, refused and dismissed Notices of Application filed by the Appellants: The Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union, Leslyn Noble, Ruth Howard and Karen Vansluytman-Corbin, seeking Stays of Execution against the Order granted by Justice Navindra Singh.

The appellants were represented Mr. Boston, S.C., and Mr. Adrian Smith, while the respondents Mehalia McAlmont, Keith Marks and Natasha Clements were represented by attorney-at-law Roysdale Forde SC, and Chrtistopher Thompson.

Arising from this, The Guyana Public Service Co-Operative Credit Union Limited (GPSCCUL) is to hold a Special General Meeting on February 5, 2024 as  per the court order.

An advertisement in Sunday’s Stabroek newspaper said that pursuant to Regulation 16 of the Co-Operative Societies Regulations, and an order by Justice Navindra Singh of December 15th 2023 and entered on December 21st 2023 in the matter of Mehalai McAlmont et al and the GPSCCUL, notice was being given of the meeting to be held at 10 am,  Monday February 5 at the Critchlow Labour College. 

The notice of the meeting was issued under the name of Trevor Benn, member of the Committee of Management of GPSCCUL.

The applicants who were represented by Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, had submitted to the Court that after a no-confidence motion was passed against Benn at a Special Committee Meeting on April 21, he was removed as the GPSCCU’s Chairman, but not as a member of its Committee of Management.

Justice Navendra Singh in handing down the order, also included in his decision, that the credit union call the special general meeting, and  publish a notice for the holding of the meeting within ten days to elect new office bearers for the Committee of Management of the Credit Union.

The judge found that Regulation 16 of The Cooperative Society Act, permitted the applicants as members of the cooperative society to demand a special general meeting. He stated that the applicants had satisfied the requirement of Regulation 16 by presenting the demand by a number In excess of the requirement of 25 members.

The Court rejected the Respondents' argument that the issue of a special general meeting constituted a dispute and it was therefore caught by section 49 of the Cooperative Societies Act.

The Court also ruled that the Committee of Management must issue a new notice within 10 days of the date of the Order- 30th September, 2022- scheduling a Special General Meeting to be held no later than the 24th October, 2022.

The Court ordered GY$1 million dollars to be paid by Rajdai Jagnauth, Leslyn Noble, Ruth Howard and Karen Van Slutyman by the 22nd October, 2022.

Benn, an Afro-Guyanese,  was removed as Chair in April 2022 at a Management Committee meeting following a no-confidence vote without his knowledge or opportunity given to him for a hearing to defend himself.  He became aware of his removal after the fact.

Benn’s removal had given rise to growing concerns among members of the credit unions, trade unionists and others in society, that the PPP/C government was moving in to take control of the workers’ credit unions which is dominated by the small man, primarily African Guyanese. 

Persons saw this as the government wanting to take away members’ independence to manage their savings and other assets without political interference.

The matter was taken to the Supreme court and on July 19 acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire granted the order of certiorari, quashing the decision of the CCDO to direct the Credit Union to dismiss Mr. Trevor Benn as its Chairman.  

The Chief Justice also granted an order of prohibition, prohibiting the CCDO from proceeding to require the Credit Union to dismiss Mr. Benn as its Chairman.

The court reasoned that the CCDO came to her decision in breach of the rule of natural justice and without conducting a full and proper investigation of the circumstances. 

The court also noted that reference to criminal charges Benn is currently facing tends to suggest that the CCDO concluded that the Chairman was a criminal and found the CCDO did not adhere to the principle of presumption of innocence.

When Bharrat Jagdeo was Leader of the Opposition and leader of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), he repeatedly threatened that when his party got back into government, a number of persons would be jailed.

Among the persons Jagdeo repeatedly named, was the then Commissioner of Lands and Survey in the APNU+AFC government, Trevor Benn. The PPP/C regime had followed through on their threat by announcing that they would be reviewing all transactions regarding the sale of State lands under the APNU+AFC administration from December 21, 2018.

The APNU+AFC administration had fallen to a no-confidence motion on December 21, 2018 and therefore, according to the PPP/C, should not have been involved in any such governance transactions. In fact, the PPP/C government is maintaining that the Coalition APNU+AFC administration should have been in caretaker mode, preparing for snap elections.

Having won the controversial 2020 elections, one of the first persons the new government hauled into court on misconduct charges was….you got it, Trevor Benn! 

Benn was removed from the post with effect from February 4, 2021 by the Ali/Jagdeo regime as promised. However, the court is yet to rule on the allegations leveled against him by the Ali/Jagdeo regime.

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