Dear Editor,
It is understood that there was a marked sense of relief at the recent departure of the former Chairman of the Guyana Post Office Corporation. Coming about the same time, his demittal was not totally unlinked to the fact that the Prime Minister, to whom Chairman Edghill reported, had his own portfolio reduced when the Geology and Mines Commission was transferred to the newly established Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Hopefully, the removal of the obscurant Bishop will allow the Prime Minister to view with much needed clarity the defects of GPOC’s operations.
It is truly surprising how this dysfunctional organisation has escaped the scrutiny of related stakeholders, and its under-performance has been ignored, or overlooked. There can be little argument about the ostensible shortfall in modernisation of its operational and delivery systems.
It would therefore seem that every initiative should be explored to raise the level of the quality of the products and services to desirable (and required) international standards.
In this regard, the mechanism (already legislated for) aimed at assuring accountability, and consequently better management and operational performance, should not be bypassed, without the fullest consultation with identified users, including incidentally, the Guyana Consumers’ Association, the Human Services Division of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security (on behalf of hapless old age pensioners), and NIS whose payment deadlines are irregularly met.
In this connection it may be useful to refer to the Cap 47:07 of the laws of Guyana which comprises of the Post and Telegraph Act – An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the Post Office and the Government Telegraph.
The Post and Telegraph (Amendment) Act 1976 was passed as ‘An Act to amend the Post and Telegraph Act in consequence of the establishment of the Post Office as a public corporation under the Public Corporations Act to carry out the functions of the Postal Department established by the Post and Telegraph Act and to make consequential amendments to other written laws.‘
With regard to the position of the Postmaster General, Sections 4 and 5 of the Act provided as follows:
“4.
The Postmaster General for Guyana shall be the person appointed to that office pursuant to section 22(1) of the Public Corporations Act as modified for the purpose by section 3 of the Post and Telegraph (Amendment) Act 1976.
“5. Subject to this Act and the Public Corporations Act, the Postmaster General shall be the chief executive officer of the Post Office which shall have the management and charge of, and shall exercise supervision over, the postal system established under this Act.”
In accordance with Clause 5(1) of the Order, there was to be established a “Users’ Council for Guyana to be called the Post Office Users’ National Council which shall consist of a Chairman and such number of other members as may be appointed by the Minister.”
Regarding membership of the Council provision was made for the Minister to consult with representative interests (stakeholders) likely to be concerned with matters within the competence of the Council, and preferably familiar with special requirements and circumstances of particular areas of Guyana.
The Minister and the Post Office were each required to refer for the Council’s consideration and report, any matter relating to services provided by the Post Office. The Council was authorised to consider any matter relating to the services provided by the Post Office in Guyana whether subject to representation or not; and where in its opinion action should be taken, the Council might give the Minister and the Post Office notice of that fact, and of the action considered to be taken.
An interesting constraint obtains in the following clause:
“6 (1) Before the Post Office so puts into effect any major proposals relating to any of its main services as to affect the persons for whom they are provided, it shall be incumbent on the Post Office… to refer the proposals to, and to consult thereon with, the Council.”
However there was the qualification that it was for the Minister to settle the question as to whether or not a proposal was major.
That the Order took the role of the Post Office Users’ National Council seriously, was reflected in statutory requirements, amongst which was that annual reports of its function were submitted to the Minister responsible, to be laid in the National Assembly. The Order therefore stipulated that the Minister shall furnish the Council with “such officers and staff as appear to him to be requisite for the proper discharge of its functions, and with such office accommodation and equipment, and such services, as appear to him to be requisite”; and pay relevant remuneration and allowances to the Chairman and members of the Council.
It is arguable that the foresight shown in the legislation for establishing this regulatory body, if actualised earlier, would have addressed such matters as the quality of services provided by the Post Office; the vulnerability of the current infrastructure in some postal areas; the desired qualifications of the human resources; the low standard of customer service complained of (compounded by uniforms designed to diminish the image of the corporation) – immediately indicative, at least of ineffectual training and development; the generally parsimonious remuneration, and related working conditions.
In summary, the foregoing commentary has identified the following:
i) With such significant users as Guyana Power & Light Inc, Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Co Ltd, the National Insurance Scheme, Guyana Water Inc, Digicel and IPED, amongst others, there is a substantive case for establishing the overdue Post Office Users’ National Council as legally provided for; and to supply it with all the appointments necessary for performing its statutory role.
ii) Identify stakeholders in a transparent process, and ensure that the names of the members of the Users’ Council are gazetted, as statutorily required.
iii) Constitute the Board of the Corporation as statutorily required.
iv) Reinforce the Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer, as Deputy Chairman with the authority assigned to that position by the Public Corporations Act.
v) Clearly emphasize that like chairmen of other public corporations, the Chairman of GPOC is a non-executive chairman.
vi) Institute an effective performance audit of the operations of the Guyana Post Office Corporation, with a view to designing and implementing a relevant strategic development plan.
vii) Bring the GPOC into the 21st century of relevantly productive information technology. For example:
a) Develop a marketing and communications strategy that would allow for increased market share of both domestic money transfer and bill payment.
b) Consider introduction of overnight parcel delivery.
c) Explore feasibility of intra-regional money transfer (Guyana, T&T, Suriname for starters).
d) Expedite the process of pension and bill payments through an electronic system designed to eliminate cash movement within the system.
Yours faithfully,
E B John
