Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Readers may have been surprised to note in Monday's paper that Government as sole shareholder of water and electricity company GEBE had rejected a request by the Supervisory Board not to extend the contract of Chief Operations Officer and Managing Board Chairman Romelio Maduro. After all, government-owned companies were put "at arms' length" in the first place to prevent political meddling.
Moreover, a Corporate Governance Code was introduced by law to stipulate rules on how to deal with these public entities operating in the private sector and a council with the same name has been established to regulate such. At first glance, therefore, it might seem a little strange for cabinet members to become involved in this matter.
However, the Corporate Governance Council (CGC) in principle is to be consulted when appointing board members and directors, not necessarily on their dismissal. This is why Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs could deal with the case directly.
Due to the urgency he did so outside of a regular shareholder's meeting as provided for in GEBE's articles of incorporation. His argument that all documents that had led to the move must be submitted first anyhow makes sense precisely out of the need to uphold all facets of good corporate governance.
The intention is to then have an independent investigation carried out, in which an Operational Forensic Audit cannot be ruled out. The latter might lead some to conclude there is a serious problem, although that would be a bit premature.
The fact is that a new decision was taken not only to have Maduro stay on pending the investigation, but also to prolong his employment agreement for two years. This raises the issue whether the duration of the intended probe is already known.
Also not clear is whom the board actually had wanted to replace Maduro and whether that choice might have something to do with the current state of affairs. Answers to these and many other remaining questions hopefully can be expected in the near future, but for now it appears the situation will stay "as is" at the local utilities provider.
