The newly reconstituted board of the Citrus Products of Belize met yesterday at the company's headquarters on the Stann Creek Valley Road in Stann Creek. It was the first meeting held under the terms of a new Memorandum of Understanding hammered out by government with the stakeholders to move the company out of an impasse.
The new board is comprised of Social Security Representative Douglas Singh, two Directors from Banks Holdings, Richard Cozier and Henry Canton, two representatives from the Citrus Growers Association, Henry Anderson and Denzil Jenkins, representative of Heritage Bank, Karen Bevans, and Representative of the Ministry of agriculture Jose Novelo. Canton was represented by an alternate Allan King.
The first business of the new board was to elect a chairman and Banks Holding nominated Doug Singh, which was seconded by the Citrus Growers Association - probably one of the few things the often feuding parties have ever agreed on at the board level. Singh's nomination was unanimously supported, so he is the new Chairman of CPBL.
He told us today that the board has not made a decision on the future for CEO Henry Canton - and it has requested information from the Chief Financial Officer to answer what Singh calls lots of questions. Another meeting will be held in two weeks to further consider his post. At yesterday's meeting, and at the next one, Canton, who is a Banks Holdings Director is expected to be replaced by an alternate as he was yesterday.
Other important business out of the meeting is that CPBL will re-tender for auditors - an issue which the last board was deadlocked on, and which produced the pivotal cash flow crisis that forced government to step in with a 19 million dollar buyout of debt and equity.
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