Remove the Ayatollah
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- Parent Category: Oct 2011
- Category: Week ending Oct 15th, 2011
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Editorial
The same way when administrations change after every general election, the composition of statutory boards of directors change, is the same way some of their General Managers ought to be reassigned.
In the first place, no manager of any of our statutory bodies such as the Grenada Airports Authority, Grenada Ports Authority, National Water & Sewerage Authority, National Insurance Scheme, Marketing & National Importing Board, Grenada Board of Tourism, Grenada Industrial Development Corporation should be given more than a three-year contract.
A performance review body should also be set up with the expressed purpose of evaluating the performance of the entire management team of these statutory bodies annually, to determine their effectiveness at meeting their terms of reference.
This review body ought to be duly constituted by a group of capable professionals with Human Resource Management, Legal, Industrial, Management and Business backgrounds.
The foregoing is being mentioned against the backdrop of a very unfair and uncalled-for experience by The New Today and other newspapers using the St. George’s Port to bring in their papers from Trinidad and Tobago.
In recent months, the newspaper have been faced with a particular problem which, although quite easy to solve, is now resulting in them getting their papers very late for delivery thus losing revenue from losses in sales.
Even though Grenadians overwhelmingly voted for change on July 8th, 2008, we still end up having to deal with the dictatorial culture of the current General Manager on the St. George’s Port - Ambrose Phillip.
This individual apparently reports to no one and behaves as if the state-owned St. George’s Port belongs to him and gives the impression that he has absolutely no respect for anyone.
It is often said that when this Mr. Phillip is reported to the Board of Directors - whether the current or past - or even those in the Finance Ministry including Minister, Nazim Burke no one seems to want to challenge him.
It is our humble submission that if The New Today and any of the other representatives of local newspapers seeking entry on the St. George’s Port to do business are considered to be national security threats, then we should be so declared by the Ministry of National Security.
After all the port is a maximum security area and we understand this. But for Mr. Ambrose Phillip to take it upon himself in a clearly dictatorial manner and to treat us as if we are national security threats, that kind of ignorance needs to be rearranged.
Is this the behaviour of a modern day “Ayatollah” who is bent on sending shivers through the body? Why would the powers-that-be allow this individual to engage in discrimination against the operators and representatives of Newspapers?
What is good for Peter should also be good for Paul. Mr. Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, justice should be handed down in a fair, open and transparent manner.
THE NEW TODAY contend that Mr. Phillip has been left on “OUR PORT” for much too long! It is time for a review of those long-serving State Managers so that some of them to be reassigned if they can still perform with merit.
A case in point is the condition that many of the Ports Authority workers have to operate in - a total indictment of both the Board of Directors and the General Manager, in particular.
Several local businesses and the very few foreign investors on the island have experienced this man’s “crass” behaviour for too long.
His apparent lack of social graces is a turn-off for anyone wanting to do business here in Grenada, which is already suffering from investment starvation.
If the Tillman Thomas administration wants the world to believe that it is investor friendly, improvements in how we do business at “OUR PORT” must be a priority. This would mean that the dogmatic and autocratic Ambrose Phillip needs to be replaced with a professional who is endowed with a more customer friendly personality.
The New Today is convinced that Mr. Phillip has outlived his usefulness as General Manager of “OUR PORT” and ought to be reassigned as soon as possible.
The newspapers were never treated so shoddily and contemptuous at “OUR PORT” under the two NNP administrations of H.A Blaize and Keith Mitchell and the NDC of Nicholas Brathwaite and George Brizan as we have to put up with today under the change we all voted for.
The current administration is allowing operatives to do what they want and so Mr. Phillip has graduated into a law unto himself over the years and seem to forget that he is serving at the pleasure of the State as General Manager of “OUR PORT”.
Just who can one go to for redress in an attempt to challenge any of Mr. Phillip’s irrational decisions?
It would appear that this man has absolutely no respect for anyone and proceeds to do his own thing while offending so many of us with his undiplomatic, contemptuous indiscretions!
When the current administration is accused openly of being anti-investor, they deny it; but the evidence is there to support this claim in the abrasive manner in which operatives like Ambrose Phillip treat investors - local and foreign alike.
Maybe Mr. Phillip might well be in need of professional counseling for something which he may have experienced some years ago which could be the real reason for his behaviour at times towards people.
All the more why he should be removed from that important position - General Manager of “OUR PORT and be replaced by someone with a much better sense of justice and fairness to all and one who is more approachable and customer-friendly and does not behave at all times like a big bad Pit Bull.
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