Wildlife trade reopened
‘Teething’ problems being experienced
By Andrew Richards
Stabroek News
August 6, 2002
The wildlife trade in Guyana has been reopened after being closed for seven months to permit the reorganising of the wildlife division but exporters are still finding it difficult due to the severe understaffing of the new unit.
The Guyana Wildlife Management Authority held its first meeting on July 14, 2002, under the chairmanship of Dr `Bud’ Mangal.
Approval was given for all persons with commercial exporter licences for the year 2001 to recommence business with the division beginning July 22, 2002. No new applications for licences are being entertained by the division until further notice.
The new unit now falls under the Office of the President and is headed by Khallawan.
Political advisor to the President, Kellawan Lall is Secretary of the Management Authority and will be issuing licences on behalf of the Authority.
The division was previously located at the Environmental Protection Agency but was removed to the building housing the Guyana Natural Resources Agency on Quamina Street.
The new unit is being manned by Khallawan, an accounting officer, a veterinary doctor and a secretary.
Exporters have stated that the processing of documents takes a long time due to the shortage of staff.
Dr Mangal told Stabroek News yesterday that the situation regarding the staffing of the unit could be described as a “teething” problem. He stated the unit is a new one and was in the process of recruiting additional staff which would take some time.
“Even though there may be the availability of persons for the job, we have to check to see whether they could perform the functions assigned to them. So the situation is being addressed,” he said. Dr Mangal asked that the exporters bear up a little while the staffing is being streamlined.
He pointed out that persons were being transferred from various agencies and this process would take a couple of months but the unit would be in a much better position to handle the work by then.
Stabroek News understands that the unit had a meeting with Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, on Friday and the issue of the inadequate staffing was brought up.
A meeting was scheduled to be held yesterday with the management authority and approval was to be sought for additional staff.
Stabroek News was told by exporters that documents are processed sometimes at a rate of one per day. And with 28 licenced exporters who submit several documents daily, the delay is quite long.
The exporters felt that the staff were service-oriented but were not in a position to do much better given the resources at their disposal.
According to exporters, the veterinary doctor has to write up documents and do other jobs that were not required of him and still has to go out in the fields to do what was required according to his job description. There are no computers at the unit.
The lone accounting officer has no support staff to conduct that aspect of the unit’s work efficiently and expeditiously.
Over the past few months, exporters had complained incessantly about the long closure of the trade which they said affected the livelihood of thousands of persons.