Poor showing, GM Grindley
Dear Editor,
The general manager at Petrojam Floyd Grindley’s performance at the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) meeting held on June 13, 2018 leaves me feeling perturbed.
He came across as an unprepared manager or one who really doesn’t care what happens with his job anymore. Is he really in control at Petrojam?
Grindley is yet to answer, directly and forthrightly, any question posed by the PAAC members. He had to be nudged, pulled and led in order to answer questions, and yet the answers were not clear. If he were in charge of Petrojam and his approach to his day-to-day duties is as was displayed in the PAAC meeting, I fully believe he can be influenced.
I am still unclear on every single issue surrounding Petrojam; his presence did more harm than good in trying to understand what is happening at this very important organisation.
I was one of those people who were thinking the People’s National Party was pulling at straws in relation to the activities at Petrojam in order to seem relevant — as they have made noise over every single thing, even when it’s not warranted.
There are so many questions to be answered, and I cannot fathom how it is the general manager would have presented himself to the committee not be able to confidently defend his stewardship and the practices of the company he manages.
I must applaud Fitz Jackson for his stridency yesterday, as this is how senior managers should be grilled when managing millions and billions of dollars — they should never be able to give the excuse of ‘I don’t know.’ As much as Jackson was being bullish in his pursuit of answers, his partisan rhetoric at times clouded his genuineness. I therefore caution him to just forget politics sometimes; as the public actually gives you more thumbs up when you are being genuine about your concerns for our tax dollars.
I have no doubt Grindley is immensely intelligent and has a great appreciation for complex issues that the regular Joe cannot wrap his mind around. Could it be that the PAAC line of questioning was just above his stress threshold and he simply struggled to manage the atmosphere?
This is the only excuse I could come up with — and I know it’s weak.
Had he worked for a private sector organisation and that was his budget review exercise, today he would be on a performance improvement plan or maybe asked to resign.
Javid Brown
Westmoreland
javidbrown@gmail.com