| …members get $85,000 payout from interim management By Leonard GildarieFor 10 years there was no Annual General Meeting (AGM). Then $91M that was supposed to be held in reserve was nowhere to be found. And of the massive $540M collected from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for sale of sugarcane, less than $9M was paid out to a few members of the Port Mourant United Co-operative Society (PMU) over a three-year period. It was unclear where the rest of the money went.These were just a few of the problems an investigative audit unearthed after Government seized control of PMU in 2007 following complaints from members.Chief Co-operative Development Officer, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, distributing cheques to cane farmers on Sunday.And according to Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir,NFL Jerseys From China, under whose portfolio co-operatives and societies fall,Cheap Jerseys Free, this is the tip of the iceberg of the situation facing these organisations across the country.In Essequibo, lands belonging to a co-operative were sold as house lots and a paddy drying facility.In Berbice,Cheap Sports Jerseys, a co-operative of the Upper Corentyne area went to a city bank and without authorisation of the Ministry, secured a $300M loan.On Sunday, Minister Nadir, at a special members’ general meeting, spoke to members of the PMU which had been placed under special management. He said that the co-operative has now managed to turn the corner to profitability and government is ready to hand it back.Almost 40 persons, some of them who inherited the canelands aback of Port Mourant from family, visited their backdam farms for the first time. It was a clear indication of the state of affairs of the co-op.Of the forty persons, less than 30 of them were bonafide members. These received $85,000 each for sugarcane sold to GuySuCo and more money may be forthcoming, Nadir told the gathering, amidst cheers.The Ministry, having taken over the co-op, hired personnel and started managing the planting and harvesting.PMU, Nadir explained, is a key co-operative that has over 900 acres and is now one of the better managed ones. The Ministry is gearing to hand over the co-op within six months once an audit report being worked on is completed and a mandatory AGM is held.The Minister explained that the reformation of co-operatives has been a serious promise made by the PPP/C government in its 2006 manifesto.So far, 20 co-operatives have been placed under management of the Chief Co-operative Development Officer (CCDO). According to Nadir, members had complained and CCDO was forced to step in after initial checks revealed widespread mismanagement.In some cases, co-operative lands were badly under-utilised.With GuySuCo begging for more lands to be placed under cultivation to meet targets that are under pressure from the new state-of-the-art sugar factory at Skeldon, the government’s intervention in PMU has taken on even more importance.From checks on PMU’s books,Brad Richards Red Wings Jersey, almost $540M was paid out by GuySuCo for canes harvested from co-ops lands between 2005 and 2008. Yet, members collected less than $9M in payments. With less than the same amount paid out to contractors for infrastructure works in the fields, the question was left hanging as to where the money went.This year, almost $9M would be paid out to the sugarcane farmers who are members of the co-operative.In addition,Cheap Jerseys From China, accumulated fees to the CCDO saw the PMU wracking up a massive $30M debt.“We are not picking on Port Mourant United just for the sake of picking on a society. We are ensuring that good governance and accountability remain.“We don’t take control of a co-op by just waking up one morning and say take over this co-op. The Chief Co-operative Development Officer, the Ministers, and Co-op officers would receive complaints and whether it is a nuisance, complaints… we have an obligation to investigate.”During the meeting Sunday, residents of Port Mourant disclosed instances of the unauthorised sale of membership in the PMU and other co-ops in the area with prices ranging in the millions.According to Nadir, there are instances of many of the Berbice co-operatives being ran as “one-man show” and there is a case of relatives even controlling a co-operative after infiltrating and sidelining bonafide members.The CCDO, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who accompanied Nadir and members of the PMUs management team to the backdam area, warned that any sale of lands and membership are illegal and would not be recognised until the correct procedures are followed.“Our aim is not to destroy societies, but to manage and control co-ops to ensure that they function properly, according to the law, and in keeping with the objectives that they were registered to achieve,” Jabbar said.Several persons who inherited or bought memberships of PMU would be given an opportunity to be heard and possibly regularised, it was disclosed.Nadir promised the members that a full audit report would be ready by next month end where members would have a full idea of how monies were spent.There were several attempts to appoint members of the co-op to the management team, but the Ministry disclosed that it was forced to abandon this route after discord arose and a non-member,NFL Jerseys Cheap, independent team was appointed.But the co-operatives are not the only organisations under the microscope.Several thrift societies in schools and credit unions are also being targeted and according to Nadir, there are facts to show that headmasters and teachers have vanished with monies from the thrifts.These will be subjected to the same scrutiny as the PMU, the Minister said. He did not rule out the possibilities that a large number of these organisations will have to be closed due to inefficiency and cases where only one or two members could be found.Under the government regulations, the CCDO can step in anytime and conduct inspections and order audits into the running of co-ops and other like organisations registered at the Ministry. |
