-37 resignations in two years
Local exporters are calling for a dialogue with President Irfaan Ali about the operations at the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) which they say is being run like a ‘doll house’ resulting in some 37 staff members resigning over a two-year period.
According to some exporters, the General Manager (GM) of the Guyana Marketing Corporation, Teshawna Lall, does not fully understand the role of the GMC, while senior officials within the agriculture sector have commented that the GMC is in the “worst possible state” since the entity’s existence.
However, when contacted, Lall insisted that they have been working to create linkages monthly and informed that the staff loss has been to the oil and gas sector. She also strongly denied allegations of a double payment of $10 million being made to an individual and that drivers are not receiving meal allowances.
While the GMC is tasked with promoting the cultivation and export of Guyana’s non-traditional agricultural crops to regional and extra-regional markets, exporters are claiming that the GM’s tardiness in providing required data is resulting in markets being lost.
One person who asked to remain anonymous told Stabroek News that a market for a specific item had opened up earlier this year and he reached out immediately to the GMC, however, he is yet to receive a response. “There were other events whereby I reached out to her to facilitate trades and assist in coordinating with farmers and nothing. No help from her end, she’s unreachable.”
When contacted, two other exporters supported this claim pointing out that they would have to go through other government persons to get in contact with the GM.
When told of the complaints, Lall denied that this was so, while stressing that they have been working around the clock to create linkages for persons who are reaching out to them. She pointed out that there are several other avenues persons can utilise to contact the GMC. “If someone doesn’t get through, they would call, they would email, do everything possible.”
According to one exporter, “The GMC is a hub for farmers. They would recommend what can go where, the knowledge, the scientific names, the local names, acreage availability, farmers to be contracted, things to come from GMC,” however, he lamented that none of this valuable information is being appropriately utilised.
“She’s a political appointee and has no knowledge in the field. None of the staff at GMC you talk to has anything good to say and Lall knows nothing about what she’s doing.”
He continued, “GMC has a lot of information, processing, how to improve the farming. GMC people and staff within… are really good but she doesn’t take advice. She runs a doll house… The president is advocating that Guyana will be the food basket of Caricom but that can never happen with how GMC is being led… She is doing nothing to boost exports and we exporters are fed up; we face so many challenges and you can’t reach her to explain or share your views. She is always unreachable.”
In response the GM said she was unaware of any exporter trying to reach out to her and repeated that persons can reach out via email which is always responded to, or write the extension personnel.
Meanwhile, regarding the staff, the exporters noted that they the staff oftentimes would go out of their way to assist as much as they could but sometimes their hands are tied as certain decisions are beyond them, “They are good people, but GMC gonna go only backward. The local processers, she has no help to give to them,” one exporter stated.
And another exporter told Stabroek News that a packing facility was built in Sophia “but that facility cannot hold one 40-foot container and we exporting about three to four 40-foot containers so where is the sense in what she’s doing?”
Additionally, he pointed out that “in some countries in Caricom, you cannot export from your own warehouse so you have to go through GMC, but there is no facility to facilitate that and she is doing nothing to fix these types of issues.”
He highlighted a situation where one exporter’s containers were blocked from getting on the vessel after it was pushed behind other containers thus missing the shipment and this, he said, aggravated the client who has canceled all future shipments until he receives the one he is awaiting. “We the exporters need a dialogue with the President. There is nothing else that can fix this, there needs to be a dialogue with exporters. We’ve all had it with her.”
Another exporter relayed that he believes much more can be done to export eddoes, sweet potatoes, and coconut, however, “you cannot reach her to tell her how the government can assist.”
Toxic work environment
Meanwhile, some former and present GMC staff members have a story of their own to tell as they claim that the work environment is one filled with toxicity and dictatorship-style leadership – with most claiming that the General Manager in the decision-making process has shown a lack of understanding and empathy towards staff.
Three staff members attached to various levels at the GMC have issued their resignation this week, bringing the number of persons resigning from the corporation in the last two years to about thirty-seven.
Workers are claiming that they are being tasked with roles that do not pertain to those of GMC, while former drivers are claiming that they have worked long hours and were refused meal allowances.
Several drivers who previously worked at the GMC contacted Stabroek News to vent their frustration at the situation claiming that drivers are being hired without a contract and when requests are made for a contract they are being fired.
According to some of the drivers, there have been multiple instances where meal allowances were denied to them despite working until 2 am.
In describing the working environment, one driver said, “Them knock off drivers…they call you for interview and people work from 7 am to 3 pm and can’t eat lunch during that time.”
Additionally, he claimed that there have been instances where they would have to drive to Linden, “drive whole day and till 3 pm you not allowed to eat and if you fa get the meals allowances, we got to eat food at 3 pm, we can’t eat before.”
One driver said that whenever issues are raised, they are being let go rather than the issues being dealt with. “One man work up to 2 am and they made him full up a form to claim meals but when he submit the voucher to admin she never paid no money.”
According to another one of the staff, whenever issues are raised “and it goes to her and she says ‘no.’ She’s very toxic…towards you.”
The person added “Staff work up to 2 am, 3 am, to get work done and they don’t mind sometimes but they are being pressured. There was one time (the staff named) didn’t answer her phone at 10 pm and she was treated badly and she resigned.”
However, Lall said that all meal allowances are being paid to drivers once the corporation’s rules are followed, and further explained that drivers are hired and placed on a one-month probationary period. “We’ve had experiences with people making accidents or drinking on the job,” as such it is only after the one-month period that they are given a contact.
Resignations
Another.., former staff member explained that she opted to tender her resignation although she enjoyed her job stating that “there was no structure” with management operating however it deemed was pleasing.
However, Lall when questioned as to the claims of the work environment being a toxic one, said that the work environment is fast paced and so if persons are not accustomed to that then issues would develop.
When asked about the resignations, she initially insisted that the figure of 37 provided by sources was inaccurate noting that it might be a disgruntled person providing the information to this newspaper, however, when Stabroek News informed her that it had contacted several of the persons who resigned, she then said that like other agencies they have been losing staff to Exxon and the oil and gas sector.
Another resigned staff member explained that he was hired for one role and placed to perform tasks that were not within his job description which included personal assistant’s work instead of the field of work he was hired for.
Stabroek News also learned of a situation where a former staff member had an emergency situation concerning his wife and was questioned in an unprofessional manner resulting in him offering his resignation.
Based on information gathered and substantiated by several persons, another staff resigned after she was given the ultimatum to decide between her son and working late after she had asked for some time off.
Several other instances were noted where staff were hired for certain positions but tasked with roles that did not fall within that realm. One person said, “If it was for GMC, we’d have no problem doing the work but most time it was personal stuff and that was unfair to us.”
Another person relayed that they no longer felt comfortable in the work environment as despite working long hours throughout the evening she was still being treated unfairly and could no longer handle the way in which the GM spoke to her.
Several other former staff members said that they felt “stifled” within the work environment with their work not being taken seriously and decided to make their mental health a priority and resigned.
Meanwhile, senior staff within the agriculture sector have also opined that the senior management at GMC seemingly does not understand their role and labelled the entity to be in the “worst possible state”.
“She doesn’t understand her role how to deal with the market and trade”, one person said.
According to the individual, there have been instances where the GM was requested to attend meetings with senior officials but would then inform them that she is out of the country.
Touching on accountability, the senior officials within the sector said that there is no one at GMC pointing out that in one instance an individual was mistakenly paid $10 million twice by the entity. However, that individual after discovering the entity’s mistake of a double payment immediately returned the money.
However, Lall denied this, claiming that nothing of the sort has ever happened at the entity.
Another senior official pointed to some of the individuals who are hired to replace the professionals who have resigned and called for an investigation to be carried out in the general hiring process.
