Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan “in his deliberative judgment” has taken a decision to revoke the appointment of Jonellor Bowen, who served as Town Clerk of the Linden Mayor and Town Council.

The revocation of her appointment is effective immediately, a release from the Ministry of Communities noted on Thursday. According to the release, Bowen was served with a letter of revocation which cites Sections 118 (1) and 326 (4) of the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01.

She was appointed on June 28, 2012 by former Minister within the Ministry of Local Government, Normal Whittaker. Her employment became effective on July 3, 2012.

“The Ministry of Communities wishes to thank Ms Bowen for her service and wish her the best in her future endeavours,” the release concluded.

Five months after being sent on administrative leave by the Linden Town Council, Bowen returned to work earlier this month following a Commission of Inquiry (CoI), which was established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the ‘no confidence’ motion against the Town Clerk in July 2016 by the Council.

The CoI recommended Bowen’s reinstatement since the motion cannot be endorsed as a result of procedural irregularities. The findings of the CoI, which was chaired by Former Regional Chairman, Mortimor Mingo, pointed out that proper and legal procedure was not utilised in moving the motion against Bowen.

The CoI expressed concern on the way Bowen dealt with an EU grant, which resulted in the loss to the Council of over $115M, the manner in which Bowen handled the gratuity, pensions and NIS remittances for the Council’s employees, the accuracy and presentation of minutes for the statutory meeting and the alleged leaking of the Council’s confidential information to the public.

“It does appear that the Town Clerk’s current attitude and deportment towards the Mayor and Councillors does not auger well for progress of the Council and if this is allowed to continue there is no doubt that the work of the Council will be further stymied.” The CoI then recommended that the Town Clerk be transferred to another post within the Ministry, where she can use her many skills and better apply her qualification.