Dear Editor,
It was only a matter of time before the corruption at the Customs and Excise Adminis-tration (CTA) and thereby the Guyana Reve-nue Authority (GRA) came to light. Having worked with the GRA, I can assure you that this scandal is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
As far back as 1992, when I was in high school, the then Customs and Excise Depart-ment (CED) was the entity that many students in my form were desirous of working with. The rationale given was that the remuneration at the Customs and Excise Department was excellent and with hard work, we could have attained the desired affluence. As naïve as that might sound, it did not dawn upon us that the wealth was accumulated by illicit means.
The GRA, as far as I am aware, was formed for three reasons. Firstly, it was formed to have the major revenue collection agencies (CTA, IRD, LRO) operating under one name/umbrella body. The second reason was to eliminate the perceived corruption at all the entities. I use the word perceived because very few employees of both the C&E and the IRD and subsequently the GRA were ever brought before the courts to answer charges of corruption and bribery. As a matter of fact, I cannot remember any member of staff of these entities being brought before the courts to face such charges. The third reason was to improve professionalism in the operations of these entities.
In eight years since the formation of the GRA, I must say that there have been improvements in the operations of the GRA. However, the Achilles heel of the organisation continues to be corruption. Just as it was in 1992, most new employees desire to work with the CTA before any other department of the GRA. One can ask why is this so. The answer is still the same as it was in 1992. There is a perception that one can accumulate a vast amount of wealth in a very short period of time. So essentially very little has changed.
I have seen first hand new recruits in the CTA acquiring the best cars and houses in very, very short periods of time. One can only speculate, how is this possible when the starting level at the CTA is the same as that of the rest of the GRA and ranges between $40,000 to $50,000 per month.
I do not know the names of the persons who are implicated in this scandal, however having worked at the GRA for a period of close to four years I am sure that I will not be surprised when and if their names are made public. I am also positive that if called upon I can identify at least 90% of the persons who are involved in this scandal.
The ring leaders for corruption at the GRA and more specifically the CTA are well known, yet these individuals continue to be employed by the authority after eight years of it coming into existence. These persons have been able to survive under various leaderships of the authority and have been promoted under the current leadership. They now occupy very senior and influential positions within the authority even as the current head of the authority has been most vociferously campaigning against corruption. How is it that these persons were able to acquire promotions under the current leadership when even the newest and most junior employee of the authority knows about the reputations of these persons?
I hope that this is a wake-up call for the PPP government and more importantly the President – Mr Bharrat Jagdeo. There needs to be a through investigation of the operations of the GRA and individuals should be brought before the integrity commission to declare their assets before they are employed with the GRA.
Yours faithfully,
(name and address supplied)
