Senior forestry officer awaiting outcome of appeal against firing

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56528547


Senior forestry officer awaiting outcome of appeal against firing
Stabroek News, Monday, September 10th 2007

Rudolph Adams, the senior officer of the Guyana Forestry Commission
(GFC) who was dismissed for alleged breaches of operations procedure,
says that he is innocent of wrongdoing and has lodged an appeal against
the dismissal.

According to Adams, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud has said
that he would be setting up an arbitration panel to hear the case, and
this should be done in the coming week.

Adams is hoping that his name could be cleared as he maintained that he
had been unfairly targeted. Meanwhile, a junior officer was also
suspended for a month without pay for his involvement in the alleged
breaches.

Adams, who only became Assistant Commissioner three months ago, said he
has filed an appeal against the decision to dismiss him and is awaiting
its outcome. "The facts of the matter will come out after the appeal."

A letter dated August 28, 2007 and signed by D. Bipcharran, Head, Human
Resources and Administration at the GFC, stated that management had
"carefully and exhaustively" reviewed Adams' matter and served notice
"to terminate your employment in accordance with Clause 12 of your
contract of employment."

The letter stated that Adams would be entitled to one month's pay in
lieu of notice and for any outstanding leave and monies due to him. The
letter advised Adams to check with the Finance Division to settle
matters related to the scholarship that he had through the GFC. Both of
the officers had in late July received letters from the GFC sending
them on special leave pending the outcome of the investigations.

Adams stated: "I am innocent of these allegations and I am challenging
the Commissioner of Forests to state what procedures have been
breached." He said too that the GFC is also alleging that in addition
to the breaches in relation to the lumber inspection, he went on the
assignment without the necessary clearance from the person in authority
at the GFC. This he disputes.

Adams told Stabroek News that he informed the relevant authority of his
intention to go on the inspection and that person did not then raise
any objection.

He said that the GFC is maintaining that the wood should not have been
graded without a timber marketing certificate, which wasn't in place
for the shipment. The former GFC Assistant Commissioner is of the view
that his vigilance is what got him into the hot water since he tracked
down the exporters whom he believed wanted to cheat the system.

According to the man, he and a junior officer left the office to
conduct an inspection after hearing of an illegal activity taking
place. He said that the team including himself, a driver and a forest
ranger went to the scene and commenced their work.

He said that he is a trained timber grader and that part of his duties
entails the issuing of Timber Marketing Certificates.

"At no time did the GFC say that Adams breached this or that…they
only alleged that I inspected lumber without it being graded," he said.
Quoting from the Laws of Guyana, Section 28, he said: "Section 38 (3)
states a senior officer may at any time inspect any timber that has
been inspected or is capable of being inspected by a timber marketing
inspector and may call for and shall be shown any documents containing
the order, contract or specification of such timber."

A press release from the commission had stated in August that
disciplinary action was taken against two GFC employees, as well as
external stakeholders involved in the breach of procedures regarding
the export of forest produce from Guyana. The statement said that the
action was taken after the commission had completed its detailed
investigation into the matter.

The statement said that the two GFC officers - who it did not name -
were disciplined in accordance with the Commission's Human Resources
Policy Manual adding that "disciplinary action has also been taken
against the external stakeholders who were involved in the identified
breach of procedures."

The GFC at the time reminded all staff and stakeholders that there are
established procedures governing the export of forest produce from
Guyana which must be complied with, adding that any stakeholder who is
unsure of these procedures can obtain a copy from the nearest GFC
forestry station.

"GFC will continue to monitor closely the implementation of its export
and all other procedures, and will take the necessary action against
all defaulters," the statement declared.

Adams had been in the employ of the Guyana Forestry Commission for the
last 14 years and had been elevated to the position of Assistant
Commissioner - Quality Control in May this year. Before that he worked
at the GFC field station in Berbice as a Divisional Forest Officer.
(Johann Earle)