-contract with ministry not likely to be renewed

SOURCES at the Ministry of Education have revealed that head of the Mash Secretariat, Lennox Canterbury, was recently asked to proceed on two months leave and that he is not likely to return.
Canterbury was appointed under the former administration and served as head of the Mash Secretariat and Special Events Coordinator at the Ministry of Education’s Department of Culture.

According to the sources, he was asked to proceed on two months leave sometime last month by a government official. The sources claimed too, that Canterbury was informed verbally by the government official that his contract with the ministry would not be renewed. It is not clear when his contract expires, and efforts to contact him for a comment Tuesday evening proved futile.
However, this newspaper spoke to acting Director of Culture, Tamika Boatswain, who said she could not provide a comment on the issue.
Efforts were then made to contact Minister of Education, with responsibility for Culture, Nicolette Henry, who said that she is not responsible for making decisions of that nature.
“You have to speak with HR [Human Resource] about that. That is a HR issue,” she said, adding that Canterbury does not work at her secretariat and that him being sent on leave is “unheard of.”

The minister was keen to note that since she was appointed Minister in 2015, no official at the ministry was asked to proceed on administrative or other leave to facilitate investigations. She said that those who would have been on leave at some point in time, would have done so because it would have been accrued.
Canterbury has also served as Guyana’s Festival Director for the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) over the last few years, and head of the delegation. With CARIFESTA XIII slated for August this year, it is unclear who will replace him if he is to be removed. Just last year, James Rose was replaced as Director of Culture as part of a restructuring process. Dr Rose was replaced by former Museum Administrator, Tamika Boatswain.