Dear Editor,
I am writing with reference to your letter under cover of which was forwarded a letter sent to you by Ms Lovern Li-A-Ping titled ‘Poor service at the Guyana Consulate in New York,’ published in your edition of May 24.
I requested a report from the Consul General and have been advised that Ms Li-A-Ping visited the Consulate on May 23, 2013 and informed the Consular Officer that she had applied for a passport about two years ago but was not in possession of her receipt. She was given a paper on which she wrote her name and this was passed to another officer for the passport to be located. The search took some time because Ms Li-A-Ping did not give the correct year when she had applied for the passport and this resulted in the staff having to extend their search.
The passport was issued to her that morning and she was advised by the Consular Officer that it was soon to expire and she should apply for a new machine readable passport.
It is unfortunate that Ms Li-A-Ping gained the impression that she was not being attended to in the manner that is expected from a customer service entity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ‒ its Head Office and Overseas Missions ‒ remains at the disposal of our nationals and those who seek consular and other assistance from us. We are committed to providing this service with professionalism, to the best of our ability and with the respect due to those who approach us.
Yours faithfully,
Elisabeth Harper
Director General
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
