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Another shake-up at the National Self Help Commission is coming after Cabinet recently approved the appointment of a new board of directors.
Community Development Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly confirmed this in a message to the T&T Guardian but did not respond to queries on whether the man she approved as interim chairman in June, Carl Celestine, had been retained on the board. Attempts to reach Celestine at the commission were also unsuccessful.
The commission, whose mandate is to assist people who have lost their homes in fires or natural disasters, has been mired in controversy over the past months, arising out of revelations at a meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Enterprises Committee (PAEC) in April relating to withdrawals of millions of dollars from the Abercrombie Fund.
That fund was described by then chairman Edgar Zephyrine as a “mystery fund.”
Senior officials told the T&T Guardian that they found it “laughable” Zephyrine had told the PAEC this, since he himself had signed off on withdrawals from it. Similar concerns were raised by committee member Jennifer Baptiste-Primus as Zephyrine appeared before the PAEC.
The fund, according to senior NSHC staffers, stood at $15 million when the Zephyrine board took office in December 2015 but dwindled to “just about $2 million with principal alone, all the interest has been used up.” The money was reportedly used for administrative purposes, including payment to contractors.
Zephryine resigned shortly after appearing before the PAEC and on June 7 Gadsby-Dolly is reported to have sent an email to Celestine stating she had been informed of Zephyrine’s resignation and instructing Celestine to take over interim chairmanship duties until a new chairman was appointed. A copy of the email sent to Celestine by Gadsby-Dolly was obtained by the Guardian.
NSHC staffers told the T&T Guardian that on June 8 Celestine arrived at the head office and met with three senior managers, then held a meeting with the staff and introduced himself as the new board chairman.
Staff members who spoke with the T&T Guardian on condition of anonymity said since then an ex gratia payment of over one million dollars was subsequently paid to the CEO, who was on administrative leave, as a buyout of the remainder of the CEO’s contract. Questions are also being asked about why the chairman instructed the head of Finance to remove the administrative head as a signatory on the commission’s banks accounts and he be made a signatory.
Staffers also provided a timeline of events which they say indicate all is not well.
On July 6, they said Celestine and Gadsby-Dolly visited one of the projects being undertaken by the commission. The minister posted about the visit to the Bourg Mulatresse site on her Facebook page. But staffers questioned the visit, pointing out that the PAEC had “scolded” the commission for allowing directors to visit sites. They also raised questions about the tendering process for one of the projects being undertaken in Santa Cruz, one of five approved by Celestine valued at close to $48,000.
The T&T Guardian was reliably informed that on July 5 an interview was held for the CEO’s position. The interview panel comprised Celestine and two other board members. The lone interviewee was Karen Lovell-Ferreira.
Five days later on July 10, another board meeting was held where it was decided a CEO would be appointed. But on July 12, the High Court granted an injunction restraining the commission or its agents from recruiting anyone to fill the CEO position or any equivalent position. The injunction was served on the commission on July 13.
The T&T Guardian has been informed that the “corporate governance issues plaguing the organisation” have been brought to the attention of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Angela Edwards and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Michelle Durham-Kissoon and the board.
Well-placed sources said there had been “little intervention despite the concerns raised”, but the T&T Guardian was reliably informed that the Cabinet planned to appoint a new board. Contacted on the move, Gadsy-Dolly would only say that the “appointment of the new board is imminent”.