UNC to Gonzales: Come clean on WASA

Opposition Senator Wade Mark has called on Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales to come clean on what he described as a "plot to destabilise" the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), after the resignation of CEO Dr Lennox Sealy.

Sealy resigned with immediate effect on Thursday as executive director and chairman of the WASA board. In a media release, Gonzales said Sealy was made aware that Government “felt that the transformation (of WASA) was not proceeding at a sufficiently rapid pace.”

Responding to a question in Parliament on Friday afternoon Gonzales, reading from a copy of Sealy's resignation letter, said the decision was due to "personal circumstances."

But Mark said he felt "personal circumstances" were not the true reason behind Sealy's decision, but the reason could be linked to "organisational mismanagement plaguing WASA...

"The government has not come clean and has not been transparent with its commitment to transform WASA leaving the authority in a complete state of confusion...

"Sealy was already a misfit for that position, but the government probably used him to carry out their agenda. And when they realised Sealy is doing it too slow, he was constructively dismissed by the PNM."

Referring to a newspaper report on Friday, Mark claimed Gonzales continued to intervene in disciplinary matters.

The article said Gonzales may have been involved in the suspension of a plant operator, Cecil Matthews, who was accused of allowing an unauthorised person to use a company vehicle assigned to him on January 30. Even though an investigation launched on February 9 found no wrongdoing, Matthews was removed from duty on March 15, on half pay. The article included a conversation between the employee and Sealy in which the minister was mentioned as the person who made the report back in January.

Mark said, "A minister has no business in disciplinary matters. He has inserted himself in areas that probably fall in the ambit of the Public Service Commission, and when these things happen there is a disciplinary tribunal to determine the guilt or innocence of the individual."

Mark said there was a hidden agenda lingering behind all that had taken place in WASA over the past six months.

"It is my considered view that the government and this minister in charge of WASA have now embarked on a programme of a free fall, meaning their intention is not to restructure WASA.

"Their intention is to destroy WASA and get rid of the 5,000 workers, as they did with the 6,000 workers at Petrotrin. I challenge the minister to say otherwise...They will allow it to crash, and then see if they could restructure a new company to replace the old WASA. That's the firm view of the UNC.

"The government has agreed to, not officially signed off on, a loan from the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) for US$370 million, close to TTD$2.7 billion, for restructuring WASA. They have not told the country," Mark also claimed.

Gonzales and Sealy could not be reached on Thursday and Friday.