EFCIA is like a fly on the rear of a hog

Apr 01, 2023 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

It is with great sadness that I have to expose the truth behind why the baggage x-ray scanners and other security equipment at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport (EFCIA) are always malfunctioning and never operational. The real reason behind why the inferior Chinese x-ray baggage scanner has not been operational for almost a year is because the advisor to security to EFCIA who had advised the oversight board of EFCIA to buy those Chinese made equipment did not put any arrangements in place with the Chinese supplier to have EFCIA technicians/engineers trained on how to perform maintenance checks, services and repairs on the Chinese x-ray baggage scanners. This is also a regulatory requirement that all security equipment used at the airports must have a maintenance schedule in place to perform routine maintenances on that security equipment. I’m sure EFCIA didn’t know this because EFCIA have people who know nothing about national requirements. They don’t follow any guidance set out by the government.

This is what happens when you have people who don’t know better in advisory positions advising on things they do not know about or cannot even follow basic national requirements such as having trained personnel locally to perform maintenance on your equipment. No one in the country is qualified or trained to do maintenance on those Chinese made equipment. They should have consulted with the national authorities or local experts before wasting millions of dollars on inferior Chinese equipment.

Not even experts at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) could be of assistance with providing maintenance on your Chinese equipment because their equipment is American made and follows the guidance from the approved list of equipment for baggage x-ray scanners set out by the national authority and the US Department of Transportation. Unlike EFCIA, they did put arrangements in place with the suppliers to have their people trained because it’s a regulatory requirement. But this is what happens when you have people who don’t know how to read and interpret regulations providing guidance based off of what they think is right and not what is correct according to the national guidance set out by the Government of Guyana (GOG).

I cannot believe that a man of your position, Mr. Nascimento, would go publicly on record and give such lame excuses as blaming GPL for power problems. You make it seem as thou you are now living in Guyana, and you are now aware of GPL’s problems. I’m sure your flat screen TV, refrigerator and AC at home have better power surge protection and backups than the million-dollar security equipment at EFCIA. Just blame GPL and use them as the scapegoat. As you said, you have been in aviation for far longer, yet these lame excuses are believable only to a child. You mentioned in your previous correspondence that the Chinese embassy was providing assistance in getting your scanner fix.

It’s almost as if you’re saying the Chinese government donated that equipment to EFCIA. What a joke this must be. The matter is a private one. Private money was used to buy that equipment. The issue is you have people who don’t know better advising your board wrongfully on what needs to be done and wasting that money foolishly. As mentioned before, no arrangements were put in place by your security advisor to have the supplier provide maintenance training to EFCIA technicians. Training wasn’t even provided to your staff on how to operate the equipment by the supplier. What a joke!

Now the matter at hand (me bringing to light matters of national security) whilst for almost a year, the management at EFCIA has tried to cover up those concerns and keep everything hush-hush. This is disappointing because a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Given the nature and layout of operations and operators at Ogle Aerodrome, any compromise in security procedures for one operator such as EFCIA has a direct effect on your neighbours. That being said, if you have been covering up all the concerns, I have listed in prior correspondences, then therefore you have been compromising all of your neighbour’s security structure. EFCIA is the weakest link in the chain. What I have done, I have done for the greater good, while your team has blindly turned your eyes and made lame excuses time and time again such as GPL, Coronavirus, Chinese Embassy. If you had said the war in Ukraine, I would have laughed. You have been misleading the public blatantly about the real reasons. Hence why I have addressed them and corrected you for the second time now.

I must say thank you for adding credibility to what I have been saying. Directly you have been saying that I used to be a government regulator on aviation in Guyana. That’s far more than you can say for your time in the aviation industry. If that is the case, don’t you think I would have been privileged to thousands of documents, information, correspondences, meetings, phone calls, emails? I have several thousands of other issues I can make public about your bush operation and your failure to comply with government requirements for over a decade. Fix your issues. Stop taking advice from people who don’t know better, who don’t know how to follow national requirements and standards.

Lastly, you did say that there is a strategic development plan that was in place for the development of the airport. Which government in their right senses would take millions of taxpayers’ money to develop a privately operated airport, EFCIA, with no benefit coming back to the GOG and the public? Putting it into context, it’s like buying a brand-new Lamborghini and giving the keys to your friend and telling them you control it after using public funds to purchase that Lamborghini. Maybe a previous government, I mean after all, the name of the airport was changed under a previous government.

I call on the GOG once again to relook at this Public Private Partnership that is in place with EFCIA. Whatever arrangements were put in place in the past can be relooked at now. The GOG has the resources and the technical expertise to get the job done correctly this time. It’s shameful when heads of CARICOM and other regional countries visit Guyana and they come through EFCIA. When compared to those countries domestic and international airports, EFCIA is a fly on the backside of a hog.

Kind regards,

John Taylor

---

• baggage, Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), EFCIA, John Taylor, US Department of Transportation

---