By: Special Correspondent.
Formation of Gulf Goans Hotels Company by Kuwait Goans was the unique experiment conducted by the Goans working in Kuwait and so far this is the only such experiment conducted by the expatriate Goans, thanks to the excellent initiative of dynamic Kuwait Goan Mr. Vincente D’Souza. Hotel Goan Heritage erected at Ghauravaddo Calangute is the first and the only baby so far conceived in the womb of GGHC. It is now about a quarter of a century that this Hotel is functioning at a very lucrative place but according to many who are directly and indirectly involved in its operation are disappointed that its management and administration is run by persons not fit to be there. Those who are running the day to day administration of this Hotel are irresponsible and unfit for the job. If this trend is not arrested now then there is every possibility for this great experiment to go to the dogs and God forbid if it happens it will be a very sad moment for the patriotic Kuwait Goans. The exorbitant unnecessary expenses done could have been avoided but the Board as a whole is not competent because it comprised some inefficient elements whose job is not in the Board but elsewhere.
There is only one director among the twelve who is a very qualified and experienced person in running the Hotel business while the rest are having zero knowledge of Hotel business. Majority of the directors are not fit to be in the board and yet unfortunately they are sticking to their post shamelessly because they want to avail of the free meals, free expensive drinks and financial doles that they get for doing nothing worthwhile, besides they want to make show of their directorship. Most shameless directors are those who are based abroad and being outside India they are impotent to contribute anything. Two of the directors are known to have questionable character, one of them is Alex Wison Coelho who was involved in financial irregularities of the community funds besides being morally corrupt. The other is Tony Cordeiro from Saligao who as per the information, was disgracefully sacked for doing financial irregularities by his company in Kuwait. Secondly up to now he has not disclosed the whereabout of the funds of Kuwait Goans Association of which he was one of the leading members.
When this is the case how one can rely on these men to protect the interest of the Hotel? And as per the latest information Mr. Cordeiro is aspiring to be the next Chairman of the Board when the current useless Chairman retires permanently. Entrusting the Chairman’s Job to Cordeiro means a great risk. During the invasion period of Kuwait he was at the helm of affairs for a few months in the absence of right man and during this period as per the available information he made a mess of everything in the Hotel, good that Flav Pimenta the then Chairman was overseeing everything. He was during this period feeding expensive food and drinks not only to his family and relatives but also to his Dogs and Cats, of course all F.O.C. He got no knowledge of anything but he pretends to be a genius in running the Hotel business. He is not even fit to be a Waiter and he is not adequately qualified academically having passed only SSC but speaks English as if he is come from Harward. Share Holders must think very hard on this subject and take a very hard decision on this man if they want to save their Hotel. He is the most selfish man and in this direction he will do anything.
The job of the Chairman is very important and currently to my assessment there is nobody in the Board who is competent enough to take up this job. Shareholders have lost their hope in the Board to do right things to get better dividends for them. Chairman’s job is not the job of a Ladru – Pedru type of a person. It requires high competence and knowledge. In view of this, Shareholders must be very assertive of their rights to express their views and not to leave this matter entirely into the hands of the Board. GGHC is not the personal property of the Board to act irresponsibly. This company belongs to the Shareholders whose voice must be sought.
On 26th of this Month, Hotel is hosting a Picnic party to the Shareholders. During this time the share holders must discuss this subject among themselves and try to find out the way to knock out the unreliable man not only from the next post but also from the board itself otherwise there is every possibility for this corrupt man to knock down the entire Hotel from its location. He is a shameless thick skinned man, not even feeling shy to show his face openly in public for the scandalous life he faced in Kuwait. For him and for such others Hotel interest goes to hell as long as they get their quota.
To repeat it again, Hotel is not the personal property of the Board but the way some are exploiting the Hotel it looks there is no one to question them. A few of them feel they own not only the Hotel but also the Shareholders. Unless the entire Board is revamped by throwing out by the Shareholders the useless Directors the situation will not change. Most of the Directors are not fit to be there, they are a shame on the Board.