And while BNE has its own apparent internal fight, there's also friction with government. The dispute is over the BNE Charitable trust - which is co managed by government and BNE - and makes charitable donations funded by oil revenues.
Well, Debbie Sewell is the general manager of that trust; she runs it on the directives of the board. But it seems the board - whose chairmanship is now in the hands of government appointee Landy Burns did not want to renew her contract which ended yesterday, September 30th.
Apparently BNE wanted it renewed - but the Chairman used his casting vote to break the 3-3- deadlock on the board. In a contentious release issued by the Government today, it says, quote:
"the chairperson shall have a casting vote….The BNE Trustees have refused to accept this rule. In order to frustrate the Government's Trustees from voting, and the Chairman from casting his casting vote, the BNE Trustees walked out of a meeting of the Board, and since then have refused to attend any more meetings. It is their position that BNE will not tolerate the Chairman's legitimate exercise of his right to a casting vote."
It continues,
"This decision of BNE has put in jeopardy the functioning of the Charitable Trust. It is Government's hope that BNE will quickly return to the Board so that many charities who have applied for funding from the Trust can receive the assistance promised by the Trust."
The government side of the board intends to advertise he post of general manager. It is our understanding that they want to make investments in a more tangible manner - which we read as a more directly political.
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