Dear Editor,
Please allow me space for one more publication of my struggle to retrieve my transport from the Public Service Ministry.
Following my letters and ensuing conversation with Minister Westford I had a chat for about 15 minutes with Mr Nirmal Rekha of the Ministry of Finance on March 21, and he promised to make some effort to assist me. Mr Rekha, who called my office to make enquiries, was on speaker, and there were six persons listening to that discussion. He admitted that the professionals who have returned from Cuba and are working at his ministry are not required to lodge their passports or have their passports stamped if they want to leave the country. He said that a letter would be issued to the contracted person so that he/she will not be ‘blocked’ at the airport.
Why then is the Public Service Ministry looking to force a difficult situation on these young professionals? The discussion I had with the Minister ended with her hanging up the phone on me after she told me that I had threatened one of her employees, and I had responded that she had no idea what constituted a threat.
It was my daughter, Vanita, who suggested that she had no immediate plans to leave Guyana and also that her contractual obligation to Guyana would come to an end on September 6, 2014, in the matter of a few months. She agreed therefore to take her passport to Minister Westford so that her ministry could stamp it. Vanita called an official from that ministry to let him know that she was heading to Georgetown. Lo and behold, when Vanita called the official’s office while she was driving to Georgetown to inform him that she was running a bit late and would reach his office by 3.45pm, he told her he would finish working at 3.30 pm that day (Friday, March 31).
After pleading with him, the official finally said that he would have to check with the Minister as to whether Vanita’s passport would be accepted after 3.30pm. The official never got back to Vanita and I still do not have my transport.
I have not written to the President about this transport fiasco because he is a busy man and could spend his time doing more meaningful things. So why are the Minister and her staff playing games in relation to a completed contractual obligation? I am now asking the President to assist. This has been highlighted at a meeting in Toronto just recently and it does not look too good for the government. Why is a young doctor being treated with such blatant disregard and absolute disrespect? No wonder many just settle for living beyond the Guyanese border.
Is there no one with a brain in this government who can advise that this treatment is wrong, wrong, wrong? My affidavit says that I was only guaranteeing the return of my daughter to her place of employment, and says nothing about haggling over issues that the Public Service Ministry handled badly in the first place. Does the Public Service Ministry not know that contracts have never stopped persons from leaving this country? Vanita has left and returned and her contract will come to an end shortly. Is this how the young professionals are treated?
Please, Mr President. May I have my transport back?
Yours faithfully,
Charrandass Persaud
