Airport workers accuse Devant of discriminatory hiring

Transport Minister Devant Maharaj is being accused of imposing selected candidates for employment on the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, bypassing the board of directors and management.

Informed sources tell TnT Mirror that at his first meeting with the recently appointed board of directors held two weeks ago, Maharaj directed the board to appoint Dyanand Birjoo, then deputy general manager of operations, as the AATT’s new general manager, to replace Louis Frederick, who was allowed to proceed on pre-retirement leave. Frederick had been offered and had accepted an offer to buy-out his leave by the new board chaired by businessman Gerry Hadeed.

Maharaj is also said to have asked the board to appoint Ronald Rattan, an unqualified employee who began his career as a security guard, to the post of operations manager. The promotion, which is said to involve a 100 percent salary increase, taking his monthly compensation package to $22,000, has angered several members of staff as qualified and senior employees of the AATT are being bypassed in favour of persons imposed by the Minister.

When informed of Rattan’s lack of academic qualifications and management experience, Maharaj is said to have justified the decision by pointing to the fact that Rattan is now a member of the board of the Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG).

Also causing some concern is the appointment of Liana Ramsahai, a junior attorney, as executive assistant to the chairman at a salary of $22,000.

Ramsahai, who is also on the board of CNMG as deputy chairman, is said to have previously worked in the Office of the Prime Minister. Ramsahai was screened for the Oropouche West seat in the 2010 general election and is known to be close to PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Her position is similar to the one previously held by former Assistant General Secretary of the PNM Rose Janniere.

The appointments are all said to be on the initiative of the Minister, imposed on the newly appointed board, and bypassing the existing systems, procedures and seniority levels in the organisation.

The appointment of Birjoo as the new general manager of the AATT, the sources said, puts the most junior of those in the running for the job in the position and did not entail the appraisal of any of the other contenders for the position.

“This organisation is now just about friends and contracts,” one insider told TnT Mirror, noting that morale at the authority was now quite low.

Just over a month ago Cabinet fired the previous board chaired by Captain Vaman Bajnath after a split among board members over how to accede to what was said to be instructions by the Minister in matters involving contracts and airport concessionaires. The board members loyal to Maharaj eventually sent a petition to the Minister expressing their lack of confidence in Bajnath and his deputy chairman Felix ‘Baldy’ Hernandez, the chairman of the Tender’s Committee.

On January 2, 2012, the previous board, headed by Vaman Bajnath, was officially fired and the new board chaired by Hadeed received their instruments of appointment on Thursday January 5, at the Administration Centre, South Terminal, Piarco International Airport.

Also receiving their instruments of appointment were Deputy Chairman Kurt Ajodha, Rishi Mahadeo, Carlyle Marks, Susan Charles Sylvester, Judith Baliram-Ramoutar, Premchan Sahadeo, Maria Gonsalves and Ruthven Goddard.

Staff members now accuse the Minister of micro-managing the organisation as the new directors take time to settle in. One of the sensitive issues said to have arisen is Maharaj’s recommendations of persons to be afforded use of the VIP lounge who are not Members of Parliament or significant government officials.

This move, the officials state, has implications for the circumventing of customs regulations especially in relation to duty-free alcohol.

Devant: I don’t hire or fire

Contacted for comment on the issues, Transport Minister Maharaj denied any involvement in the hiring or appointment of any persons at the authority.

“All appointments to all positions the board are handled by the chairman of the board. I have no authority to appoint or hire anyone, so I think you should address your concerns to the chairman,” he said.

Hadeed, when contacted, also denied ministerial interference, saying, “The Minister never instructed me to hire or fire anyone.”

According to him, “As chairman I have never received any instructions pertaining to hire anybody or fire anybody,” he reiterated, refusing to respond to the list of allegations being made by insiders.

As to the policy regarding the use of the Diplomatic Lounge, the Transport Minister claimed that he had in the past seen persons not authorised to the use the Diplomatic Lounge “passing through carte blanche.”

He said that he had seen “PNM persons who had demitted office still using the facility, as well as enjoying VIP parking,” adding that this has prompted him to call for an investigation by the Airport Authority’s board into the matter.

“I have also asked the board to establish a policy on who should be allowed to use the Diplomatic Lounge, so that its use will not be left to the discretion of anyone,” he said.