Nine months after taking up the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in the state-controlled Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), Grenadian-born former Economics lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr. Brian Francis has run into difficulties with the Board of Directors.
Dr. Francis and the board were at loggerheads over the dismissal of a female employee with close ties to one of the directors.
THE NEW TODAY understands that the employee who was terminated, demanded payment for the rest of her contract and legal opinions were sought by BADMC from two law firms in Barbados which did not support the position of the woman who lost her job.
Despite the legal opinions, the Board took the position that the sacked employee should be given the money that she was requesting.
However, Dr. Francis stood by the decision of the law firms that rendered opinions on the issue and the board did not agree with him.
The board cited him for misbehaviour but eventually pulled back when asked to present the facts.
Hours later, the Directors took the decision to terminate the contract that was signed with Dr. Francis to head BADMC which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The corporation was set up in 1993 to encourage commercial agricultural development in Barbados and to market agricultural products.
As a public service, THE NEW TODAY reproduces the letter sent by the law firm in Barbados informing the Board that the dismissed employee was not entitled to the money that she had demanded:
