At Monday’s TUG Town hall meeting in East Basseterre, Deputy Prime Minister Shawn Richards addressed the dismissal of former Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College president Dr Kelvin Daley. Dr Daley who returned to duty earlier in July, received his letter of termination that same day.
Dr Daley told local media that he had been victimized for political reasons and shared with listeners that he had done nothing but uphold and advance the high standards at the college, But on Monday night Education Minister Richards issued this blistering response to Dr Daley’s accusation of victimization. Richards accused Daley of incompetence alleging that the CFBC accounts were in disarray with money’s missing and large bills going unpaid.
Richards told the nation that nearly ½ million dollars was unaccounted for at the CFBC under Daley’s management. “That was under his watch as President of CFBC, and the report speaks to it right here: $819, 276.11 collected at CFB in the year 2014. Actual banked deposits, $395, 840.54, amount accounted for $423, 445.47, and so if the Board took a decision not to renew his contract, why you what to blame me or why you want to blame the Board?” The Minister asked, as attendees clapped and murmured their approval.
The Minister also charged that there were significant sums of money owed by the college that had not been paid. “Ask him about the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to Social Security, taken out of teacher’s money, and money ain’t reach to Social Security up until now, because of the fact that there are serious financial issues up at CFBC,” the Minister said, his voice rising.
“All of that happen under his watch as President of CFBC. Ask him about the monies owed to CXC by CFBC. Ask him about the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to the Electricity Department by CFBC.” “And you could understand why. If I have to tell you to come back for a month, I’m not renewing the contract. You may want to do things to sabotage the institution.
I’m not saying he would have done that, but these are factors that you have to take into consideration. But when Dr. Daley is saying he has been victimized, Dr. Daley must give persons the full facts; let them determine why the Board decided they don’t want to renew his contract,” he said, to more shots of approval.
The Minister dismissed the allegation that he had victimized anyone.“I tell people that when I go to sleep, I go to sleep with a free and fair conscience, because I ain’t victimize nobody, but I will act in the best interest of you the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.” Meanwhile the former CFBC President is responding to comments made by Education Minister Shawn Richards at Mondays TUG town hall meeting at the Newtown community center.
On Tuesday Daley told local media that the Minister’s allegations and inferences of mismanagement of CFBC funds were ludicrous. Daley said he was the one who had ordered the audit of CFBC funds and that outstanding debts had accumulated because the college had been behind for years in its settlement of outstanding debts. Dr Daley maintained that his firing was politically motivated and at no time did the CFBC board provide feedback on his management of the college. “The audit request came from my office, with my signature.
We requested the audit not because we suspected anything was wrong but we were preparing ourselves for accreditation, and [that] kind of documentation must be on file,” “What I met in place was a system where one person was in charge of receiving and paying out.
That is a failure waiting to happen. We brought in a VP of Finance without any budget for that person, because we knew the importance of making sure we separate functions,” he explained. “The audit uncovered banking slips that were drawn but there was no evidence that the money was actually paid in.
Now, I do not handle cash…I do not go into the office and say, ‘How much cash you have here today?’ I depend on reports coming out to say, this much was collected, this much was deposited. Only reconciliation can tell you whether the deposits match the monies received and paid in.
Without an audit you can’t determine that on a day to day basis. That is what the audit uncovered, and it is my administration that uncovered it, and what do I get in return for that? I get a letter to go home,” Dr. Daley said. “I came to CFBC in 2013, August; there [were] arrears already on the books. These things weren’t brought to my attention [until] well after the fact when we had the audit.
can’t act on matters I don’t know about,” he said. “The matter of SKELEC, those bills weren’t coming to my office. Nobody said to me, Daley, we have a problem with arrears with SKELEC, what are we going to do? They’re making it sound as if I created all of these in the time I was there…it is very unfortunate and very misleading, because it’s not true.”He said it was the same situation with Social Security.
“I should not have to be overseeing the disbursement of salaries to be making sure Social Security is being paid. If the matter was brought to my attention and I did not act on the information that Social Security was not being paid, then I can be held accountable.” Dr. Daley says he was never given a reason for the termination of his contract, and at no point had the Board ever provided feedback on the job he was doing.
“There was none whatsoever. None. Zero. There’s nothing written in the record to me. I never received any communication that because of ‘x’ and because of ‘y’ this is why the Board is acting in a certain way or this is what is happening. I have not received any explanation from the Board. I got a letter of termination, thanking me for my service and wishing me well. That’s all I got.”