Firing of local Gov PS may be as a result of reports and complaints levelled against him

– former CDC top Official-

There are many who are expressing the view that the recent dismissal of the Permanent Secretary
within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Emile Mc Garrel may be
because of several complaints and reports that were leveled against him. This was the view
expressed by a former Community Development Council (CDC) official, who had worked
within the then Ministry of Communities. The official who was recently dismissed by the new
government said that the PS on numerous occasions acted as though he was the “President’
instead as a PS. The former top senior official who requested that www.aroundtheregions.com
doesn’t identify him, said that it was only a matter of time before the evident dismissal of Emile
Mc Garrel.
He disclosed that there were several times when the CDC, which was headed by Eugene Gilbert
up until the new administration was sworn in, had verbal exchanges with the PS.
“At the time I was serving as a very senior official and there were numerous times that we were
forced to take our concerns first to Minister Harmon and later to President Granger. These
clashes were so severe that on several occasions we wrote the former President, unfortunately he
never formally responded and when we spoke to him about the letters, there was always the
excuse of he would respond or the then Minister Ronald Bulkan would seek to cover the PS. This
could not continue under this administration and it shows that it took someone with ‘guts’ to take
the appropriate action against Mc Garrel,” the former senior CDC official said.
The former official, went on to state that there were several employees from various RDC who
had sought the PS intervention into many situations, but instead of addressing same it appeared
to many that the PS would urge and encourage the REO’s and in some cases other officials, to
ignore and or take their own action. “There were many instances where it was evident that public
officers at several of the RDCs were not adhering to set out guidelines and regulations but
unfortunately there was never a finger raised in objection. The issues that are unfolding in
Region Ten is not new as many who have had some amount of interactions and dealings with the
region would understand what was taking place there. Region Ten needs sweeping changes and I
trust that the relevant personnel would see it fit to ensure that there are major and drastic changes
as a lot isn’t right within the region,” the source said.
When quizzed on his view of the recent firing of several persons from CDC by their subject
Minister, Nigel Dharamlall, the source admitted that it was expected. He however stated that
irrespective of who won the election it was evidently coming, stating that the PS wanted to have
several of them fired in the past. However, recognizing the enormous work that they were doing,
the former President had not dismiss them. “We knew that if APNU/AFC were returned and with
the PS and Ronald Bulkan remaining there we would have seen a large number of us primarily
from CDC being dismissed or moved, because the PS had created this false image that we at
CDC were not doing enough.,” he said.

The former top official admitted that he has no issue with the action that was taken by the new
government, noting that in Guyana changes are expected whenever there is a political change. He
however stressed that with several employees from Region Ten and other regions relating their
experiences and encounters, they would have had with the former PS, he feels that the decision
by the present government to fire Mc Garrel was a just and a wise one. “You can’t have a PS
who is a very senior officer within the ministry failing to execute his duties at the highest level
and what is more worrying is that with the President holding his ministers to high standards then
the Ministers must hold their PS and every other senior officer to the same high standard. It is
clear that the misguided actions of Emile Mc Garrel have come to a screeching halt as he is no
longer allowed to willy nilly operate as he did in the past,” the former CDC senior official
declared.