Letter to the Editor; “I never received any letter from the Prime Minister”- Carvil Duncan

Carvil Duncan

General Secretary

Guyana Labour Union

Saturday, October 8, 2016 

Sometime during February 2016, I received a telephone call from the Secretary to the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon indicating his interest in meeting with me the following Monday at the Ministry of the Presidency. I turned up at the meeting with Mr. Harmon who said to me that he was instructed by President David Granger to have me resign as Chairman of the Public Service Commission which would automatically be followed by my resignation from the other Constitutional Service Commissions, namely, the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission.

During that meeting, Mr. Harmon also requested me to consider a financial package that would accompany my resignation. My answer to him was that I had preferred to speak with the President on this matter and I then exited his office.

At about 10:30hrs the same day, I received another telephone call from the Secretary to Minister Harmon requesting me to attend a meeting with the President at 11:00hrs that day. I turned up for the meeting at which there was the President, Mr. Harmon and an individual unknown to me. During our discussions, President Granger insisted I resign as Chairman of the Public Service Commission to be followed by the other Constitutional Service Commissions. He then said to me as much as three times, that “he does not want any blood on his carpet,” forcing me to move in the direction of resigning by the deadline of March 15, 2016. The President offered me a financial package under the same conditions as had been offered by Minister Harmon if I were to resign as he insisted. I left the meeting with an understanding that I would return a call to Minister Harmon confirming my agreement to resign.

A few days later, in an attempt to speak to Mr. Harmon, I made numerous telephone calls and left several messages with his Secretary without any response to date.

Subsequently, I read a report in one of the daily newspaper, quoting Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo’s Personal Assistant saying words to the effect that I, Carvil Duncan failed to respond to a letter sent to me by the Prime Minister. I had checked with both of my offices which were never in receipt of any letter sent by the Prime Minister. I also checked at the post office in my area which informed me that it had no outstanding mail for me. It may be opportune to note that I was also never contacted by the Prime Minister or any of his agents.

N.B An investigation is currently ongoing into whether Carvil Duncan, Chairman and appointed member of the Public Service Commission, ought to be removed from office for inability to discharge his duties. The Tribunal is being led by Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire, while Justice (ret’d) Winston Patterson, and Attorney-at-Law, Robert Ramcharran are serving members. The Tribunal is expected to render its report, findings and recommendations to the President on or before October 31, 2016.