Labour Minister reveals that Co-op union spends $6M on salaries, meagre $114,000 on training

Under the authority of Derek Cummings, the National Co-operative Union Limited (NCUL) in Guyana spent more than $7M GUY in salaries and stipends, while only spending $114,000 GUY on training.

Guyana’s Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton made the disclosure during a media interview. It was noted that the revelations were made following Cummings’ attempt to defend the claims made by Chairman of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly Guyana (IPADA-G) Vincent Alexander.

“I believe that Mr Derek Cummings is attempting to release the pressure that is on Vincent Alexander that cannot give a proper account of $100M GUY per year…and therefore he is injecting himself in this conversation,” Hamilton said.

The minister disclosed that it was an uphill battle to get Cummings to submit the financial statements of the NCUL upon his assumption of office.

“He is right about hounding down. But not for the building or the keys. Hounding down had to do with him giving an account of the subvention that was made available to the National Union of $18M GUY in 2020, and when I became a minister in 2020, I wanted accountability,” he explained.

Hamilton revealed that according to the financial report for 2020, NCUL expended salaries totalling some $6,371,463 GUY, while paying stipends amounting to $1,810,000 GUY. During the same period, however, the organisation expended a meagre $114,000 GUY on training, despite spending more than half a million dollars on promotional materials and activities.

As such, the minister stressed that focus must be placed on these issues and questions answered concerning the spending of taxpayers’ money.

Hamilton noted that Cummings appears to be skirting responses to the relevant questions.

“This financial statement was transferred via someone to this office and at the same time, Mr Cummings resigned as chairman. So, the key questions to be answered are still unanswered. Is it a coincidence? You prepare a financial statement and when you have to represent it, you resign,” Hamilton said.

It was pointed out that Cummings’ letter followed a response made by the minister to Vincent Alexander, who accused him of forcefully taking away the facility from the Essequibo Regional Co-operative Union. Minister Hamilton said that the building is being used by the Labour Ministry under a lease agreement with NCUL.