THE gross incompetence, ignorance and blatant disregard for the Constitution of the Guyana Teachers’ Union continue by the President (ag), General Secretary, Treasurer and the General Council representative of the Upper East Bank Branch. This must come to an end now. The teachers of the North Georgetown Branch, who were vigilant enough to prove to the MOE/GTU management team that they were the winners of the “Champion of Champions” Trophy at the 2009 Championships at Albion, must continue their militancy to show the GTU that its members’ integrity and professionalism are still intact.
The North Georgetown Branch had its Branch election for Branch officers and nominations for Central Officers for the 2010 Biennial Elections of the GTU. This meeting was chaired by the President (ag) of the Union and in attendance was the General Secretary, Treasurer, Upper East Bank Branch General Council representative. The Chairperson (President (ag) allowed the election to be done by Proxy Voting. It must be noted that nowhere in the GTU‘s Constitution, is there any such provision for a Proxy voting nor was any precedence set over the last 125 years. A letter came subsequently from the North Georgetown Branch requesting a review of the processes. This was tabled at the General Council meeting of Tuesday, December 15, 2009. This Constitutional body ruled that these elections must be deemed null and void and that the General Secretary must write the Branch and make arrangement for the elections to be done over. It was at the same General Council meeting that the President (ag) admitted that it was human to err and that she was ignorant of Proxy voting in the GTU.
This new meeting was conducted on 4TH February, 2010 and present were the President (ag), General Secretary, Treasurer, General Council Representative and Mr. Lancelot Baptiste. This meeting was chaired by the President (ag), who called for a vote as to whether the members present wanted the original decision of the previous election to stand or for new election must be considered null and void. This caused members to walk out of the meeting,
It must be noted that this was the second occasion within 2 (two) months that the President (ag) showed her ignorance by her actions; she is now saying that in contravention to the decision taken by the General Council, that, i) she agrees to Proxy voting by members at Branch Elections, ii) she has total disregard for the members of the General Council and the Constitution of the GTU.
Editor is this the GTU has come to, is this the type of leadership that the teachers of Guyana need? Members of General Council, there is need to take up this matter urgently and request an immediate special General Council meeting to correct this matter!