Dear Editor,
The print media is perhaps the layman’s avenue to express the concerns which bureaucracy refuses to address and I want to thank you for carrying most of my contributions and I express my best 2017 wishes to you and your staff.
Because of my work as a community activist I am privy to information on malpractice and the victimisation of people, particularly within a certain catchment area. As a consequence, I have been made aware that clerical staff at the Foulis/Buxton NDC, located in Buxton, are giving the royal runaround to certain persons who apply to that NDC for a ‘No objection’ letter to have weddings.
These are some of the experiences:
* Applications must be approved at statutory meetings of the NDC.
* The Chairman of the NDC cannot be located to sign the approval.
* Applicants must pay their 2017 rates and taxes before their application can be put before the meeting.
* The staff have not had their lunch as yet.
Is this the better Guyana I voted for?
The processing of a ‘No objection’ letter is a routine, administrative matter. Why is a statutory NDC meeting necessary to consider such an application?
Why must a rate-payer have to pay 2017 taxes in January when he has until April to do so?
What is it to do with anyone if the staff has not eaten as yet?
Frankly, why must anyone have to endure all this frustration? The answer which stares us in the face is, as Freddie keeps preaching, we are a lost, backward country. Every Tom and Jane who sits at a desk is looking to fleece someone.
Editor, don’t take my word for it. Do an undercover experiment. And then do an expose based on your experience. In the meanwhile, please publish my letter so that the unfortunate applicants can have their wedding approvals signed.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Selman
