One week after Dennise Demming was removed as chairman of the Tourism Development Company Limited (TDC), the Ministry of Finance has sought to clear the air on what led to her termination.
In an interview with CNC 3 last week, Demming, who was fired earlier this month from the post she has held since last year claimed the termination arose “out of a total misunderstanding of the role and function of the board and the boards of State enterprises.”
However, a release from the Ministry of Finance yesterday stated: “The decision to terminate Ms Demming’s appointment was made based on the concerns raised by the members of the board of directors.”
Revealing that the board’s concerns had been outlined in a letter dated April 17 and addressed to line Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, the Ministry said: “In this letter, the board of directors outlined their loss of confidence in the chairman based on several actions/decisions taken, and that such actions exposes the board, its directors, the employees of the TDC... to an unacceptable level of risk.”
In the letter the five board members — Frederica Brooks-Adams; Richard M Duncan; Tonya Laing; Eric Taylor and Davlin Thomas — underscored their loss of confidence in Demming to continue operating as the chairman of the TDC.
They wrote: “The chair has on several occasions acted without the advice and consent of the board, its directors, the employees of the TDC and ultimately the Ministry of Tourism to an unacceptable level of risk and that such actions are not in accordance with good corporate governance.”
Attempts to contact Demming yesterday to ascertain what actions she had taken that were against the board’s wishes, proved futile.
Similarly, efforts to contact three of the five TDC board members to hear from them also proved futile.
Asked why the issue was once again being highlighted, officials from both ministries declined to comment.