The appointments of former Caribbean Airlines (CAL) board members, including former chairman Rabindranath Moonan, to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) board have not been finalised, Finance Minister Larry Howai said yesterday.
He was asked about the situation after former public service head Reginald Dumas raised the question of how Howai felt about the fact that Moonan and a second former CAL board member were being appointed to the HDC’s board after Howai removed all of them from the previous CAL board last month.
Howai, line Minister for CAL, had changed the board, headed by Moonan, and appointed a new board under Phillip Marshall. This followed the announcement of CAL’s close to $800 million in losses last year and issues of mismanagement. Moonan and another former CAL director were subsequently reported as tipped to be made part of the HDC board.
Yesterday, however, Howai, speaking to T&T Guardian, prior to the Senate sitting, said as far as he knew the expected appointments had not been finalised. Howai confirmed the situation had “not been cast in stone” since approvals had to be given, including that of President Anthony Carmona. This comment seemed to be at odds with what line minister for HDC, Roodal Moonilal, said on Monday.
Other government officials also said the situation had not been finalised. One PP official said Moonan and other former CAL board members were not “fired” but rather that Howai had “merely changed the board. They had not been blamed for anything and if their expertise did not meet CAL’s needs, there’s nothing to say their expertise might not fit elsewhere and be beneficial in another sector.”
Yesterday, Dumas said he was surprised at the development, considering the former CAL board members had been removed from CAL last month and were now being appointed to the HDC, which has more public impact day-to-day than CAL did. Dumas said: “Not everyone flies every day but everyone lives in a house so I was taken aback at this move which I don’t think is a very good one on Government’s part.
“What possibly could the Finance Minister be saying if he judged they were not fit to be on the CAL board and now they are being placed on the HDC board?” Dumas said he was also surprised at the appointments since the Government had taken issue with the Ken Gordon-Keith Rowley meeting concerning the Section 34 e-mails, which has caused some heat for both men.
He added: “If the Government considers it unethical for Dr Rowley and Mr Gordon to have met at Mr Gordon’s home on that issue, what is ethical about the Government appointing to a board two people dismissed from another board and the board they are immediately appointed to now is much more important than the organisation from which they were dismissed?
“I don’t know what message Government is sending, either do the right thing or not at all because this is a question of Government’s judgment.” Also contacted on the issue, Transparency International president Deryck Murray said the group had not dealt with the issue immediately but would do so at its next board meeting.