PHILIPSBURG:--- As another year comes to an end publishers have the task to select a person or group of persons that stood out during the year and award them with the person of the year award. While a lot transpired on St. Maarten during the year 2015 that landed us in the Guinness Book of Records. There is one group of people that did their jobs and took decisions that were hard. That group of persons is none other than the members of the Supervisory Board of GEBE. Those members were all appointed by the United People’s Party when they were in government. They are:-
Rene Richardson: Chairman
Ms. Zylena Bary: Vice Chairlady
Mrs. Veronica Jansen-Webster: Board member
Mr. Patrice Gumbs: Board member
Mr. Edwin Gumbs: Board member
Mr. Kelvin Bloyden: Board member.
Another member of the Supervisory Board of Directors of GEBE is Candida Joseph who was forced to resigned to perform the audit requested by the Shareholder representative. Joseph whose primary employer SOAB requested her resignation from the board when they were hired to perform audits at all the government owned companies. SMN News would also like to commend Joseph for her hard work and dedication given to GEBE while she was an active member of the board.
While it is known that politicians appoint the people they want on supervisory boards of government owned companies in order to manipulate them or bleed the company. The members of GEBE Supervisory Board did their jobs, they went after those persons who were appointed by the same political party and were bleeding the company for their own interest or the interest of the politicians that appoint them.
GEBE supervisory board members got rid of its Chief Operations Officer (COO) Romelio Maduro when they found the illegal contract Maduro signed with St. Maarten Service Provider. This contract was signed without the approval of the supervisory board which costs the company $500.000.00, besides that, the person who signed on behalf of St. Maarten Service Provider was not the registered owner of the company. Maduro also abused and misused the company’s credit card and also committed fraudulent acts like demolishing the company’s assets without permission from the shareholder and supervisory board. While one would think that is all the former COO did he is also accused of selling copper from the power-plant without the knowledge and consent of the supervisory board and allegedly used the funds for his own benefit.
Another step the GEBE Supervisory Board took most recently was to suspend the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Rene Gartner. Gartner hired two companies in the United States of America to install the SAP payroll system which costs the government owned company $40,000.00 per month which was not budgeted for in 2015. The board found that the SAP payroll system was not needed and that too did not get the approval of the supervisory board. To add more fire to the fury Gartner purchased a Lincoln vehicle for a whopping $45,000.00, $15,000.00 in excess of the allotted amount and that too did not get the approval of the supervisory board and shareholder.
Gartner grossly misused and abused the company's credit card. Spending above his approved limit for representation expenses. Most of the misspending was done on booze, food, cigarettes and other personal expenses. While Gartner boasted to be a banker, he was unable to present the 2016 budget on time and when he finally did present the budget there was no elucidation and it was not in accordance with advices and instructions given to Gartner by the Supervisory Board of Directors.
Gartner specifically had a major problem with the majority of the managers and department heads of the Government owned utility company, a relationship that was extremely unhealthy for GEBE and its employees. He was accused of making derogatory remarks about the members of the Supervisory Board, allegedly because he could not manipulate the members of the Supervisory Board that took their task seriously, and acted in accordance with the law instead of being manipulated by the politicians that appointed them.
One of the things that these members did was stand up to the former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs when it came to taking decisions, they did not hesitate to move to court when it was necessary to preserve the people’s patrimony.
The Supervisory Board of GEBE also submitted the names of two persons to the shareholder representative former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs for him to appoint them to positions that would complete the management board. Those two persons were to take up the vacant positions of CEO and COO while the names of the selected persons were done since June 2015 those persons were never appointed and the management of GEBE stayed in the hands of a man that was bleeding the company dry until the supervisory board took the bull by its horns and suspended the CFO Rene Gartner and appointed a temporary manager to manage the day to day business of the government owned company.
While this group is hardly ever recognized they made the news almost every week on SMN News during the year 2015, therefore it was more than fitting to recognize them for the outstanding job they have done during turbulent times.
As the year comes to an end, SMN News wishes the Members of the Supervisory Board of Directors of GEBE a blessed 2016, much strength and courage to carry out their daily task.
