Spectre of nepotism haunts LUSCSL

THE SPECTRE OF NEPOTISM is haunting the Linden Utilities Services Coop Society
Limited (LUSCSL) and the phantasm is draining the finances of the company, a source
acquainted with the inner workings of the company complained, calling for a probe.
The source who has interacted and or associated with the Coop for a number of years in the
bauxite-mining municipality of Linden, disclosed in an exclusive with
www.aroundtheregions.com that Mr. Courtney Handy is bullying workers dictating from whom
the Purchasing Department source items.
Part of a wider plan seem to staff reshuffling to ensure cronies are strategically positioned to
ensure personal aggrandisement is fulfilled, unhindered, the aggrieved source disclosed.
“The person behind this whole thing as to where we purchase and why we purchase is Mr.
Handy. His wife (Victorine) used to purchase and everything that she bought was overpriced. A
former member, who has since died, Mr. Bharrat told the Board that he usually buys from this
young man, George Philips Electrical and recommended the company to the Board for
purchases,” the source said.
The outspoken source said Mrs. Handy was subsequently removed from the Purchasing
Department after a number of discrepancies and irregularities surfaced, much to the chagrin of
her husband. LUSCAL also started purchasing from George Philips Electrical who also extended
a credit facility to the Coop.
“If they ever said that the utility was in a spot, he (George Phillips) would send whatever they
wanted,” the source recalled.
The decade-long cordial relationship between the coop and the private sector business went
smoothly until 2018 when an avalanche of complaints surfaced forcing administrators to
abandon George Philips Electrical in preference for businesswoman Wonnetta Nicholson from
whom they purchased electricity metres.

Linden Utilities Services Coop Society Limited (LUSCSL)

That business arrangement, however, was short-lived, the source explained.
“When they bought the meters, they started experiencing several problems, so in 2019 they
called back Mr. Phillips after reviewing the quotes provided to them by three companies,
according to regulations governing LUSCSL for all purchases over $30,000”.
The source continued, “After the meters lived up to their expectations, they planned purchasing
another 500 last year. But when they went to the Board, they advised them to buy 1000 instead
after consultation with the Chief Coop Development Officer (CCDO) Ms. Paulina Gifth, to help
secure some duty-free concessions. They went ahead and secured quotes from the required three
suppliers. The arrangement that Mr. Phillips was putting in place was extremely favourable to
them. He wanted 50 percent of the cost in advance and the other fifty percent paid in three parts.
(Surprisingly) this was a problem (with the Board) as they held back the man’s cheque through
Mr. Handy’s intervention. He uses his influence to stop it (his payment) and created unnecessary
problems for Mr. Phillips to get his payments.”
The source firmly believes Handy is victimising the business client Mr. Phillips as a pressure
tactic to force the LUSCSL to put his wife back at the helm of the Purchasing Department. And
the source wants a probe into all the machination at the coop.
“Mrs. Handy thinks that she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants and to whoever she
wants. Because of her performance we had to move her from Purchasing and the last place she
worked was in Loss Recovery as its Supervisor. Her file it is filled with many letters of
complaint. She should have been sent home a long time but once again her husband has been
doing whatever he can to ensure that the Board doesn’t fire her,” the source explained.
The source surmised that part of a wider plot by Handy is to sully the reputation of the LUSCSL
Board of Directors by leaking false public information about the Board allegedly purchasing
meters from businessman, Mr. Dexter Copeland, proprietor of Vision Services, another member
of the Board.
As a consequence, there is an aggressive, ongoing competition between the two to get business
deals from LUSCSL.

With the spectre of favouritism stalking the Linden coop, the source is determined to exorcise
every vestige of the evil spirit of nepotism and unprofessional conduct from the body politick of
the coop.
But Handy remains their perennial challenge.
The source said after they acquired the 110V and 220V meters at $8M less than Handy’s
preference, he demanded the Bureau of Standards certify them. This was done, but the exacting
Handy remains unwaveringly fastidious manufacturing complaints.
“They carried all the 110V meters and some of the 220V meters and the Bureau of Standards
place all the meters on the110 circuit. They said that some were malfunctioning. However, that
was because they placed 220V meters on 110V circuit. We don’t know what is going on and the
monies that they were forced to pay the Bureau of Standards they could have gotten some more
meters. The man did inform them that because he shipped them from overseas, they had to go
through the Bureau of Standards, so there was no need to take it back through just for
certification,” as demanded by Mr. Handy.
His ghost defies exorcism.