Minister Ramnarine … we are not fools! Your description of the electoral spend under the guise of CSR will not stand up to global scrutiny. Your half baked revision of how CSR is implemented just confirms your lack of understanding of some key concepts. CSR practitioners globally are collectively cringing at the looseness of your revision of this definition. While you play loose with serious concepts, another citizen suffers! Cassandra Patrovani-Sylvester has been right sized/ realigned/separated … call it what you will. Her career has been halted. Yet another professional has been sacrificed at the the alter of political expediency because she was doing her job. When someone is fired for cause the person can reflect on their wrong doing but to have your career halted because of politics is unjust.
NGC has historically had a very measured, transparent and logical approach to Corporate Communications but what the public is experiencing now amounts to irresponsibility. Whomever succeeds Mrs. Patrovani-Sylvester will face an uphill task returning the Corporate Communications philosophy to one which is logical and research based.
I was prepared to ignore the $1M spend on tickets for Carnival Fetes when I considered one million dollars as a percentage of NGC’s profit but now the attempt to justify blatant electioneering is phenomenal. If the company was trying to track effectiveness then an electoral map is NOT the tool to be used. Corporate Communications 101 says you need to begin with the research so that your objectives are clear and its impact can be measured at the evaluation stage. Tell us what was the company measuring?
Your attempt to draw BP into this muddy pool further underscores you lack of understanding.
FYI Minister Ramnarine, here’s a definition from the UNIDO website:
… Corporate Social Responsibility is a management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders. CSR is generally understood as being the way through which a company achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives (“Triple-Bottom-Line- Approach”), while at the same time addressing the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders. In this sense it is important to draw a distinction between CSR, which can be a strategic business management concept, and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy.
Dennise Demming 
Ministers like Ramnarine were grossly under prepared for the rigours and responsibilities of portfolios such as the ministry of energy. Added to that, the fact that the Prime Minister also chose, when she conducted her shuffle of the permanent secretaries, to rob many of her ministers the institutonal knowledge and support that only a well seasoned permanent secretary can provide. Instead in the vacuum of ignorance, the reliance quickly rests upon so called experts and self interest.
Its been one year since Minister Ramnarine requested a report on the Beetham Waste water project tender? Where are we with respect to that mess?