GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders have expressed their “immense concern” at the unfolding situation at the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), where the president of the regional financial institution, Dr . Hyginus “Gene” Leon, has been on administrative leave since January.
CARICOM chairman Dr. Irfaan Ali, speaking at the news conference following the four-day CARICOM summit, told reporters that this “was a matter dealt with by heads” but would not elaborate.
“This is a regional institution, and of course, when a regional institution is going through any trauma or any situation, it is of concern for the heads,” said Ali, Guyana’s President.
“This is of immense concern for the heads because, at the end of the day, our priority is on the institution, ensuring that the institution remains strong, stable and the credible nature of the institution is kept intact,” he added.
The CDB has remained mum on the circumstances surrounding the decision to send the St. Lucian-born economist on administrative leave, with the acting president, Isaac Solomon, confirming at a bank news conference earlier this month that “there is an internal administrative process involving the president.
“The bank is extremely focused on preserving the independence, confidentiality, and integrity of the process, and as you can well appreciate, for us to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the process, we cannot provide any other details at this time,” Solomon said.
Ali told reporters that the regional leaders want to be “assured that in a procedural way rules and procedures are followed in whatever we do in the bank.”
He said while the regional leaders would not intervene in the governance structure or governance mechanisms of the bank, “heads were of the view that the board of directors and governors have specific responsibilities and that sure regards must be afforded to the board of directors and the governors in dealing with issues of the bank.
“I don’t want to go deeper because this is an ongoing situation that we do not want to prejudice or we do not want to impute or we don’t want to be accused of anything…so I would leave that there, but I want to say that, of course, this was a matter that was dealt with by heads,” Ali told reporters.
Earlier, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said concerns had been raised about the method used to send Leon on administrative leave.
Prime Minister Browne, speaking to reporters in the hallway of the venue where the summit had been taking place, said, “There were concerns about the procedure that led to that process, and at some point, we will have to address the issue of the procedures and the fact that subordinates within an institution can take disciplinary action against their superior without even consulting with the directors or the governors of the bank.
“I mean, there is something fundamentally flawed about that, and you would have seen two developments, not only the sending on leave or the institution of disciplinary action against the president but even before that when the race for the candidature was taking place between Leon and Professor Avinash (D. Persaud of Barbados) I recall that same whistleblower system was activated.”
“On first blush, I think the whole process is somewhat flawed, and I am of the view that even if it may apply to lower members of staff, certainly when it comes to the president, there has to be some, at least, notification, even out of decency to the directors and the governors,”
Based on the issue, he said, “there could be some form of intervention at the level of the governors.
“So it is a process we will hopefully review in the future to ensure that we do not have a system that can potentially be abused and weaponized against future presidents of the bank or senior members of the bank,” Browne told reporters.
Leon is the sixth president of the regional development finance institution. He was elected at a special CDB Board of Governors meeting held on January 19, 2021, for a five-year term and assumed office on May 4, 2021.
Leon headed a team of more than 200 employees headquartered in Bridgetown. He came to the assignment with 35 years of experience in economics, financial policy development, and executive management, more than 20 of which were spent working with the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF). He had succeeded the Jamaican-born Dr. Warren Smith, who retired in 2021 after serving as president for ten years.
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