‘Dismissed without cause’

… govt terminates contract of Geoffrey Vaughn without giving reason

The Ministry of Public Works has terminated the contract of its Chief Works Officer, Geoffrey Vaughn effective March 12, 2021.

The last time Vaughn spoke with the Village Voice News in November 2020 he noted that he had requested his leave and was instructed to take all that was left of it. “I requested my leave but they said to take all,” he said.

There was nothing mentioned, at the time, about his contract with the Ministry. Speaking with the Village Voice again on Monday, Vaughn said that no reason was given to him for his termination. Nonetheless, he said he has no intention to challenge the decision.

In a letter received by Vaughn on February 12, 2021, signed by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Vladim Persaud, Vaughn was informed that his services would no longer be required beyond the date identified.

“…you are hereby given one (1) month notice from the 12th of February 2021 that the Ministry no longer wishes to continue your employment contract. Thereby making your effective termination 12th March 2021. During this time, you are expected to provide a detailed hand over of all projects you would have been involved in and or signatories to the current Coordinator Works Service Group (ag). Additionally, you are hereby instructed to return any property and records of the Government of Guyana which may be in your custody as soon as possible,” a portion of the letter stated. The Ministry also wished Vaughn well in his future endeavours.

The APNU+AFC Opposition has alleged that close to 1,000 persons, without proper cause, have been dismissed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration.

These include Environmental and Petroleum Engineer, Dr. Vincent Adams; Environmental Economist, Dr. Mark Bynoe; Commissioner Trevor Benn; Sherie Samantha Fedee, a career public servant with over 25 years of unbroken service; Colvin Heath-London, a Business Consultant with vast managerial experience having worked on multi-billion dollar projects in the Caribbean, China and the Middle East; Attorney-at-Law, Amanza Walton-Desir; Economist, Dr. Clive Thomas; Major  (Ret’d) Aubrey Heath-Retemyer and 38 employees at the now defunct State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA); at least nine Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials; staff of the Bertram Collins College and others.

“…there is public concern about certain governmental actions – including the high rates of deaths as a result of the pandemic; unwarranted dismissals of public servants; harassment of Elections Commission officials and human rights violations – which can have consequences for Guyana’s short-, medium- and long-term national development,” the former President David Granger said in December 2020.

The former President opted out of a meeting that month set by the Government for past Presidents because the aforementioned concerns of the Opposition were not yet “satisfactorily settled”.