Dr. Gopaul’s intervention into Devonshire Castle Cooperative Land Society affairs is needed

I HAVE read in one of the daily newspapers on 2012-03-25, of Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul’s interest in relation to issues affecting members of the Paradise Cooperative Society on the East Coast of Demerara. As a member of the Devonshire Castle Cooperative Land Society on the Essequibo Coast, this society has been functioning without a quorum for over 12 years which is a violation of the Society’s Constitution and by-laws and the Cooperative Societies Act Chapter 88:01.
In 2004, when I became a member of the Society, I observed that some 98 percent of the members had no idea or access to a copy of the Society’s Rules and Cooperative Society Act Chapter 88:01, and because of the poor knowledge of Society members regarding the rules, the Chairman took control of every situation by manipulating the Society’s affairs.
However, I was lucky to get a copy of the Society’s Constitution and the Act in which I found that Rule 22 which deals with General Meeting was breached by the Chairman.
This Society’s treasurer received millions of dollars as income and hundreds of thousands of dollars as fees from the burial ground to carry out infrastructural works, but for the past 12 years from January 2000, the committee of management never held any AGM. Also no auditing of the Society’s assets was done.
We the members have proof of corruption and are calling intervention by the higher authorities. This Society has one transport for the entire society covering the cultivated and the housing areas but the Chief Coop Officer at a meeting at Walton Hall failed to disclose in whose possession are the society records, books, contacts, documents, files, sale agreements etc.
Cooperatives are industries that generate employment and income and bring people of all ethnicity together. The general membership has recently elected an IMC to manage the society’s affairs and is seeking the Honourable Minister of Labour, Dr Nanda Gopaul’s intervention.

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