People are understandably unhappy about the recent power cuts. Moreover, they came at the same time as news that former director William Brooks is back at the helm of GEBE, which
predictably led to quite some humoristic remarks. The local utilities provider then lit its Christmas lights, prompting a bit of sarcasm as well.
All jokes aside, these things obviously have nothing to do with each other and the technical problems sound pretty serious.
Regarding the contracting of a temporary manager, something obviously had to be done after the departure earlier this year of Chief Operations Officer (COO) Romelio Maduro and the recent suspension pending dismissal of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Rene Gartner. A provision in the Government-owned company’s articles of incorporation allows the Supervisory Board to appoint a managing director without waiting for the shareholder’s blessing when one is lacking for obvious reasons.
It’s true that Brooks’ history at GEBE has not been without controversy to say the least. However, nobody questioned his qualifications and some of the past trouble seemed due to a soured relation with his then retired and now late predecessor Julius Lambert, who had returned as chairman of the board.
Current chairman Rene Richardson says Brooks deserves a chance, in this case a second one. Under the circumstances he indeed should be given the benefit of the doubt, but not necessarily a lot of time.
The temporary manager’s start hasn’t exactly been seamless, although probably through no fault of his own. The high season is here and it’s not going to become any less busy in the next few months, which only means an increasing demand for water and electricity.
Technical mishaps can always occur, but they need to be dealt with swiftly and decisively, also because St. Maarten’s tourism economy and thus practically everyone’s livelihood to a large extent depends on it. Nothing less will do.
