The Director of Public Information in the Office of the Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has submitted his resignation as a Director of the state-owned National Communications Network.

His resignation came on the same day that the new NCN Chief Executive Officer, Lennox Cornette, reported for duty.

In  a statement Mr. Khan said “I advised the Honourable Prime Minister of the reason for same, thanked him for the confidence reposed in me for having been selected to serve as an NCN Director and expressed regret that the circumstances do not permit for me to serve the full duration of the term for which I was appointed.”

Khan’s decision comes in response to the decision by the Chairman of the NCN Board to move ahead with the appointment of Public Relations Consultant, Lennox Cornette, even after Cornette admitted to him that he had forged the signature of late GTT Manager, Terry Holder, while he worked at that company.

Khan thought that such an admission was enough to remove Cornette from the running for the position but backed by other members of the Board, the Chairman went ahead with the appointment, even after Khan requested that the Board meets to discuss the issue further.

In his statement today, Mr. Khan said he “could not associate my name with such an appointment. I therefore am of the conviction that continuing as a Director is untenable.”

He said the decision of the Board to proceed with the appointment in light of the available information, is reckless and imprudent.

Last week, Khan wrote to the Prime Minister requesting that the Prime Minister revoke the appointment of the Chairman of the NCN Board over the decision to appoint Cornette.

In an email exchange shared to the NCN Board and seen by News Source, Khan told the Prime Minister that “it is my view that the appointment of Mr. Cornette as CEO is an irresponsible, foul and obnoxious decision given his admission. The Chairman pushed this matter through with undue haste. It was a most reckless act on his part.”

“The Chairman lacks the demonstrable capacity to effectively chair the NCN Board. Not only is he weak but he has proven that with regard to the most critical of decisions he is prone to act in haste and make decisions which puts NCN, a company at the centre of the state’s national security at risk. Further, Prime Minister, considerable time at Board Meetings is spent on the Chairman discussing irrelevant non-agenda matters, principally involving the Chairman threatening to resign (which is a threat that is made at almost every single meeting) and him seeking to impress the Directors as to his contacts in society among the elite and powerful”, Khan told the Prime Minister.

In response to that letter, the NCN Chairman, Bish Panday clapped back and wrote a letter of his own to the Prime Minister pointing out that “I maintain Mr Khan is unqualified to judge my competence. I don’t know that he ever managed anything or ever met a payroll. He can continue to write.”

It is unclear what decision the Prime Minister will now take in this matter.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo is the subject Minister who holds responsibility for the state media.

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