A man without a job is a man that will question his usefulness to society

Jul 18, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The retirement of a person after years of service is an occasion not just to sing the person praises, to serenade others with the value of their contributions but also to drum home the appreciation that goes with long service.
A retiree deserves the opportunity for an honorable discharge. Why, then, would the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) send home a long-serving and senior employee a few weeks before he is officially due to retire?
The act of sending the man home dishonors him in the eyes of the public. By simply waiting a few more weeks, the Guyana Revenue Authority could have saved that individual the public humiliation he now faces.
The person concerned headed the customs operations of the Guyana Revenue Authority. But unlike the explanation which was given for the mini shakeup at the GRA, the customs operations actually was responsible for the GRA increasing its revenues. The Minister of Finance has indicated that the increased revenues were as a result of strengthening operations at the country’s ports.
Would it not have been much better if a change was necessary to simply indicate that since the person was due to retire soon that he would be removed to another section so as to ensure a smoother transition by his successor. Why send the man home?
People’s reputations are important. We cannot allow in this country for person’s reputations to be simply destroyed by callous actions. The man may have children. Those children are going to be the object to remarks about their father. How can any caring government tolerate such actions? It is wrong, plainly wrong.
You work within the public service and instead of a farewell party for your long and dedicated service to your country, all you receive is a letter advising you to proceed off the job. That is shameless.
What message are we sending to public servants when someone who has given service to their country and is mere weeks away from retiring is not given an honorable send-off. This action by the Guyana Revenue Authority is unconscionable.
It is interesting that the person is being sent home weeks before his retirement while in the same GRA, mere weeks after the new government came into office, retirees were put back on the job. This is the contradiction that faces the new government.
It is not a simple matter of a misstep. The actions of the Guyana Revenue Authority get to the very center of governance. If a system of governance allows for persons to be publicly shamed and humiliated like this, then that system needs overhauling.
There is another issue of concern in terms of the recent decisions of the Board of the Guyana Revenue Authority. This issue is in the public domain and has implications for the staff of the Guyana Revenue Authority.
It is inexplicable for the Board to appoint someone who was recently subject to an investigation to manage the persons who had recently investigated him. It matters not whether the person was exonerated. It simply is not a wise decision to soon after, place that person in a position of authority over the very persons who investigated him.
The staff who investigated that person is going to feel very uncomfortable working under that person. This is something that needs to be looked at closely because it is only an issue of governance.
The decision to end the employment of persons has implications. Those persons are going to find it difficult to obtain other jobs when prospective employers learn that they were sent off from their jobs. There has to be great consideration for employees. Guyana is no longer a workers’ state but the state of our workers should still remain of paramount importance.
If someone cannot find work, that person is going to feel less useful to society. That person will not be able to take care of his family. That person will not be able to provide for himself. The disrespect for workers under the new government must end.

1 thoughts on “A man without a job is a man that will question his usefulness to society”

Surujpaul Rampersaud July 18, 2016 at 11:57 am

Yes, frustration multiples itself. It spreads to family, then to close friends, then to community al the rest. It is worse when the frustrated individual had enjoyed relative prominence in the community. In the eighties when the Burnham government was retrenching workers left right and centre, a fisherman in our village took his thirteen year old son to assist him on his little fishing boat. The fisherman after repeated warning was charged for not sending his child of school age to school. The fisherman pleaded guilty and asked to explain the situation. He listed about four names of graduate teachers who has lost their jobs and explained to the magistrate that he was teaching his son to be a good fisherman and as he got older he would be an expert. The magistrate was caught in a hop and just advised that with education the boy will become a better businessman so he must send the boy to school. With this warning the case was dismissed.