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| Mr Silvanus Fontenard |
"From January 2010 to December 2012 I pleaded with the Board of the Choiseul Credit Union to commence an aggressive and proactive process of selling permanent shares to members to enable the society to be compliant with the regulations of the FSRA.
But all board members vehemently opposed the
recommendation on the advice of a new board member who misunderstood the system,
but whom they thought was the St Lucia's best authority on credit union
management.
But guess what? At the end of December 2016,
and seven years later, the society fell behind the minimum share requirements
by close to 2.5 million dollars and now have to make the adjustment by
transferring large amounts to permanent shares to become compliant.
Wouldn't have been
much easier on members if the process had been commenced seven years ago? I
guess when people practice hatred instead of being businesslike these are the
consequences. I wonder what the fool who mislead them is saying now.
By the way I was just informed that he has
just been reelected to serve for another three years to continue to mislead the
society and take it deeper into the risk of possible deregulation.
My advice to members though is that you should be proactive and buy as
many permanent Shares as possible to protect your organization.
Many board and committee members don't really
care about the future of the credit Union, They are more interested in the
power derived from serving, using the Society to promote their partisan
political agenda or the perks such as traveling to conventions and summits and
as a result do not even read the regulations and the policies .
What is most
important is that the Society belongs to the membership and as a result you
should all act to protect and secure its future for your children . So I advise
you all to invest at least 10 percent of your savings in Permanent Shares to
ensure that you not only meet the regulations but exceed it - This way you will
always be ahead of the pact and can become a model organization again just as
it was in the 1990's."
To make the Credit
Union more sensitive to the needs of its members, Fonte thinks that certain
measures must be taken. He says.
“St Lucia needs a very tough Registrar of
Credit Unions who will insist that regulations are adhered to and place heavy
fines on delinquent officers who violate the regulations - This way there will
always be full compliance.
Our Registrars are
just playing games and this is why Elected Credit Union officials are able to
break the law and get re-elected year after year.
Imagine a man who had
a history of delinquency was allowed to sit on a Credit Union Board and ends up
rising to the post of president while the registrar and the supervisory
committee stands by - All because of partisan politics."
Why aren't
you part of the board......did you opt out or didn't take part in the
election/nomination process? Someone asked Fonte.
“My time at
Choiseul Credit Union ended over four years ago, when the crooked board members
stated that they did not want to work with me because I stood against the
extortion which some were practicing as well as the refusal to undertake
practices to secure a safe and sustainable future for the society.
I don't think I will even set foot in there
anymore.
My hope though is
that members will open their eyes and not leave but make changes including
getting rid of the crooked people who hold office”
