Duke calls for WASA officials to be fired

PSA leader Watson Duke, in a Facebook live broadcast on Monday, called for two officials at WASA to be fired.

He claimed they were involved in suspending a worker falsely accused of letting an unauthorised person drive a WASA vehicle.

Duke alleged Dr Lennox Sealy's recent resignation as WASA CEO was linked to fallout from the matter.

Duke said the employee had validly been at Macqueripe fixing WASA facilities, having accomplished the tasks he had set out to do.

But he alleged that a named top government official claimed to have seen the employee "giving a man a touche," that is, letting him drive a vehicle belonging to WASA.

The labour leader said the employee had been cleared of any wrongdoing by an investigating officer, but this was seemingly not acknowledged by the actions of the two officials, a man and a woman.

Duke said the female official had told the investigator to get the accused to tell the truth, while the male official had suspended him on half-pay despite an investigative report having exonerated him.

Duke said the woman had said she had got a directive from higher up to suspend the employee. He expressed his disgust that the male official, when caught out, had written to the employee saying WASA would drop the matter if the employee would sign a document "in full and final settlement" of the matter and agree not to take legal action against WASA.

Duke complained of the deprivation suffered by the employee, who he said was caring for a father with cancer needing costly medicines. He vowed to protect the employee and the investigating officer.

"Today I'm calling for the suspension and total removal of those two officers."

Duke urged WASA's new chairman Ravindra Nanga to investigate and suspend the two officials.

He vowed that if this was not done, the PSA would keep all its members out of any disciplinary procedures at WASA.

Duke said he is writing to the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate the public official.

"If this is not misbehaviour in public office, I don't know what it is."

New WASA chairman Ravindranath Nanga, in a text message to Newsday, offered no comment, saying he had not seen Duke's broadcast.

Newsday asked what was WASA's policy on company-vehicle usage.

Nanga replied, "It is limited to the authority's business only and there should be no unauthorized persons on board."

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales told Newsday in a text message that he did not know the named employee, adding, "I have never heard of the names of those WASA officials.

"My aim and focus is to move the transformation forward and get water in citizens' taps.

"These are the things that keep me up at nights."