Mayers seeks to lift TSTT bottom line

CARLA BRIDGLAL

New chairman of TSTT Robert Mayers is still unclear about his official start date, because he has not yet received his letter of appointment, despite being announced in the position on Thursday by the Ministry of Public Utilities.

Nevertheless, Mayers, the deputy political leader of the Congress of the People from 2009-2011, is ready to take charge of his new post. “I suppose it is because you can either sit down or criticize or see if you can help. If you can’t, then you exit gracefully,” he told Newsday in a brief phone call yesterday when asked why he took the job.

He said he couldn’t elaborate on his intentions until he receives his instrument of appointment and has his first briefing, but is hoping to look at how the state company can “get its bottom line up to where it needs to be.” Mayers said he is not intimidated by the prospect.

Mayers is chairman of KSBM Asset Management Ltd. He was also the managing director of CMMB Ltd, a subsidiary of CL Financial Ltd, from 2007-2009, until the company was acquired by state bank First Citizens. Cabinet approved Mayers’ selection during its weekly meeting on Thursday.

Mayers fills the void left by former TSTT chairman, contractor Emile Elias, who abruptly resigned on September 25 after serving for just under two years.

The Communications Workers’ Union, which represents the majority of TSTT’s workers, said the government had missed a “golden opportunity” to appoint someone with more telecommunications experience, knowledge and insight.

“TSTT is not a financial institution. That’s his skills set. He’s a financial analyst. Of course, (Mayers) has proved over the years to be a frank and open man and I have no problem, personally, with him,” CWU general secretary Clyde Elder said.

Elder said that now Mayers had been appointed there was little that could be changed, but the union hoped and expected he would look into the what Elder claimed were “wanton waste, corruption, nepotism and backdoor dealings,” at the state enterprise.