POND ISLAND, Sint Maarten — The SMCU would like publicize that TelEm is still without a CEO after the parliament election of September 26, 2016. The Prime Minister mentioned right before election that three new board members would be added to the board six weeks after the election, and right after the CEO would be appointed.
We are now in the month of December 2016, nine weeks after elections, and the three board members that passed the screening are still not appointed to the board of directors to allow the one board member to resign from his position and become CEO, as the Prime Minister planned.
In the meantime, TelEm is operating without a CEO, and the employees are now tired of the situation because there is no one to hold ultimate responsibility for the bad decision that’s being made in the company.
The situation in TelEm is so tense that department of planning and engineering decided that they no longer want to work under the leadership of Mr. Eldert Louisa, who is the technical director (CTO).
This group of employees sent a letter to the SMCU demanding an urgent meeting with both the CFO Mrs. Helma Etnel and the CTO Mr. Eldert Louisa. The meeting was held on November 23, 2016.
In the meeting, the group of engineers and the planners clearly stated that they no longer wanted to work under the micro, and disrespectful managing style of the CTO anymore.
Mrs. Etnel, who is the CFO, said on many occasions that she is not the boss over the CTO nor the CCO, and for that reason she could not make any decision to have the CTO move from his function.
The meeting was going in circles and the employees decided to leave the meeting, and wrote a letter to the board requesting a meeting with all the members of the board. The letter was delivered the same day November 23, 2016, of the meeting, since management had to meet the board in the evening.
The Chairman of the Board refused to take the letter because he felt it was operation matters, but the Chairman maybe forgot that TelEm doesn’t have a CEO to make ultimate decisions and because of that the board becomes the one responsible to handle any and all complaints on the directors.
The SMCU then sent a mail to all the members of the board with the letters attached and where management confirmed receiving the letter November 8, 2016. The board was also informed about the meeting that was held earlier in the day November 23, 2016. (See mails below)
On November 29, 2016 SMCU sent a mail to the Prime Minister Mr. Marlin requesting a meeting with him to see if he in his capacity of Prime Minister could bring some clarity to the situation at hand.
The SMCU is saying again that because the company doesn’t have leadership (CEO) there is no one to hold ultimate responsibility for the actions of the directors in TelEm because the board of director, who is responsible for the well-being of the company doesn’t want to pick up their responsibilities.
