Micromanagement of Forest Rangers at the Guyana Forestry Commission

Feb 22, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

The Guyana Forestry Commission, especially the Forest Monitoring Division (FMD) has been plagued with mismanagement and prejudices by upper management employees for a long time. It is shown to the outside world that everything is going normal and production levels are rising but within the commission walls, dictatorship lurks.

Firstly, stakeholders engagement is lacking, and junior monitoring staff don’t possess the adequate kindness and etiquette when interacting with customers. Employees from the Tagging and License department have been trained to ‘harass’ or ‘bully’ customers ruthlessly with the talk of “if you don’t have this document or criteria fulfilled, you will be closed down for business.” What kind of incompetence is this? How do they expect to boost the logging industry when you pour despair into customers’ ears.

Also, if a customer comes a few seconds after the lunch period, no flexibility is shown towards them. They have to wait until the lunch period is finished. Is this the image we are portraying to the general public? Seems the commission has forgotten that these stakeholders in the logging industry are the ones who contributed significantly to their treasury every month, with the royalties that they pay every fortnight.

Secondly, their staff turnover is astronomical, as most senior and experienced inspectors & rangers are leaving for greener pastures due to their low salaries and zero promotions. Merits and skills are obsolete at GFC. Persons with links to a specific political party or a senior official are having all the breaks. It’s becoming a nuisance when junior staff without field experience are given the opportunity to override senior staff because of their sycophantic behaviour.

Lastly, a very senior officer has become power drunk. He has very close ties to the ruling political party, which gives him the false pride of being untouchable. If a staff or a stakeholder speaks out against him, they are victimized by his actions. Even the female clerks within the tags unit are programmed to report to him if they hear anyone speaking about him. It’s terrible when staff who are devoted to the commission and assisting customers on a daily basis are belittled instead of being commended. Also, if an employee tries to stand up for their rights, or refuses to be a ‘yes man’, they are being micromanaged and disciplined or transferred to an outlying station.

I beg the government to look into this commission before it collapses.

Sincerely,

Chaitnauth Ramkisoon

Chaitnauth Ramkisoon, Forest Monitoring Division, Guyana Forestry Commission, mismanagement, prejudices

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