The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI)’s two-year retrenchment process has been labelled a “witch hunt” by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – the largest party in the main Parliamentary Opposition.
“The GWI management in May and June 2021 went after staff perceived to be aligned to the APNU+AFC coalition and fired some 76 staff workers after making their positions redundant so as to achieve their witch-hunting mandate,” the party said, concluding that “clearly it is vindictiveness, political and ethnic discrimination”.
But even as the party says it is convinced that GWI only sacked those perceived to be opposition supporters, it is still requesting that a list be produced to show those who have been terminated and those hired from August 2020.
The GWI, earlier this week, sought to bring “clarity” to its “restructuring” process which it claims occurred within approximately two years.
It maintained that the process did not affect 300 employees, as is being claimed by a news outfit. Rather, the reduction of the workforce from a total of 1320 to 998, is due “mainly to attrition”.
“Our termination exercise only targeted 77 personnel, many of which were redundant positions. The remaining 223 departed the company’s employ as a result of resignations and retirement. We also wish to state that where key personnel such as Engineers may have resigned, management has moved to hire skilled persons to ensure our mandate is efficiently executed,” the company said.
The PNCR has, however, labelled the “clarity” as “hogwash”.
The cry from APNU is not surprising.
When they were in power, they created jobs for their “kith and kin,” all useless creatures.
Why are they now crying ethnic discrimination when it is necessary to clear off deadwood?