Airport Authority gets an acting CEO while chairman’s position is elevated; Isaac says PM trying to save face
Mere hours after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Euletta Francis
tendered her resignation from the Antigua and Barbuda Airport
Authority (ABAA) on Monday, November 13, another person was
been appointed to act in the position.
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced that
Avery Henry has been appointed acting CEO, while ABAA Board
Chairman Rolston “Polly” Potter has been upgraded to executive
chairman of the Authority.
Both appointments are with immediate effect.
Speaking to Francis’ resignation on State media, Browne said that
his government and the ABAA Board had carefully examined her
resignation letter; and “considering her ability to serve as the CEO of
ABAA and deliver services at the required standard, [they] agreed to
accept her resignation.”
But United Progressive Party Chairman D.Gisele Isaac says that
Browne’s statement is “nonsense.”
“Has he learned nothing from the fiasco they made of the Kelvin
Simon resignation in June?” Isaac asks.
“Ms. Francis tendered her resignation. It was a statement; not a
question. There’s nothing to ‘consider’ or ‘assess’ – except maybe
their culpability,” she says.
“It was a done deal: He didn’t get to put her out because the woman
walked out on her own two legs. And, so, all the prime minister is
trying to do with his statement is save face,” Isaac concludes.
Francis’s decision to leave the post which she held for four of her 11
years with the Authority came after the prime minister unleashed an
attack on her last Saturday during an outing on his affiliated radio
station.
Browne accused Francis, among other things, of being rude and
disrespectful and questioned her qualifications to hold the post.
His comments reportedly came out of two run-ins he had with
Francis, on November 9 and 10, related to a delayed meeting with an
airline executive and to the controversial airport on Barbuda that is
affiliated with the Peace Love and Happiness (PLH) investors,
respectively.
