The Corporate Governance Struggle of GEBE Part One ~Company in the wind~
In less than a month, the Supervisory Board of Directors (SBOD) of NV GEBE, St. Maarten’s sole utility company took its shareholder (the government) to court twice. The case was over the appointment of Sharine Daniel as the company’s statutory director and chief executive officer (CEO). The SBOD also sought the court’s verdict to bar the dismissal of the supervisory board. It’s been over a year since GEBE is functioning without a management board; leaving the company without executives to achieve GEBE’s vision and mission. At least two board members of the SBOD recently tendered their resignation. The required number of members is six or seven; presently there are two. Currently, Devon Dembrook is serving as the temporary manager of the company since his appointment in February 2021.
A minority SBOD also puts the company in a further precarious position. The Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (VROMI), Egbert Doran, recently presented the Corporate Governance Council with a list of recommendations however none have a legal, human resource, or finance background. Of the six recommendations, one has a technical background and five have a commercial/business background.
The former management board’s three-year term ended on October 31, 2019. Their seats had to be vacated by May 1, 2020, but the government granted an extension until November 1, 2020. Applications for the CEO, CFO, and COO position closed on January 31, 2020, but no extension for applicants was granted.
The reason behind the lengthy recruitment is unclear however, former SBOD chairman Bienvenido Richardson, stated in a press release last year February, “NV GEBE is the only government-owned company that over the years has not conducted a proper recruitment procedure for the selection of the members of its Management Board, the Supervisory Board of Directors considered it advisable and prudent to carry out a transparent recruitment.”
The last persons tipped to be on the management board besides Daniel were George Willems (CFO) and Merrill Temmer (COO). The former CEO candidate Robert Jan James withdrew his candidacy. Daniel scored the second-highest during the company’s recruitment facilitated by Ernst & Young. Randal Hato, the former CFO candidate also withdrew. Besides Daniel’s appointment, the status of Willems and Temmer wasn’t publicized since the public report of the CGC advice.
The saga at GEBE prompted the following response months ago from the United Democrat party Member of Parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams: “these developments at GEBE are reminiscent of the PJIA saga that played out over a period of several months without the shareholder exerting its authority to bring the matter under control.”
A decision on both court proceedings is pending. The last statement from the Minister of VROMI about GEBE was August 25, during a Council of Ministers press briefing. In response to a reporter, Minister Doran said, ““one of our main and only lifeline, GEBE, government-owned company, that is been doing, I wouldn’t say optimal, but doing well in comparison to the Port and the airport. Especially since the hurricane, and also now with the new covid pandemic. GEBE, as we know, is a monopoly so therefore it’s the most viable asset of the people of St. Maarten .... As I indicated I am very disappointed in the manner in which things have been going recently in the recent years. And as part of the shareholder and especially with my portfolio that falls directly in regards to GEBE in terms of energy and so forth. It is my number one priority to do whatever I can do in my power to be able to get GEBE back where it needs to be and more in touch with the people.”
