On April 8, the Ministry of Business issued a statement in which it said that the government had given the green light to a proposal from the Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin for a ‘Trusted Trader’ programme to benefit legitimate businesses.
The statement went on to say that the proposal had its origins in complaints received over the past 10 months that several well-established businesses had been targeted after their refusal to pay inducements to public officials. The targeting, the statement said, resulted in commodities with short shelf lives being left on the wharves to expire, while minor queries were used to delay the importation process for weeks. These actions, it said, led to the loss of millions of dollars to businesses, which in turn, affects Government’s revenue collection. The statement added that the Trusted Trader status will be conferred on businesses that meet certain criteria related to their history of compliance.
“This status will allow for the release of consignments prior to the processing of import documents, as well as other benefits that acknowledge the high level of trustworthiness implied in the status”, the statement said.
The Ministry’s plan was challenged by letter writer M Maxwell on the grounds that it would lead to further corruption and the favouring of certain businesses. Minister Gaskin in a response to the letter said that the primary focus of the programme is on business facilitation and it was not meant to be a substitute for any anti-corruption measure being implemented or contemplated.
When one considers Guyana’s perennially poor ranking on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index and the numerous, anecdotal and otherwise, reports of corruption in various parts of the business-facilitating economy and Customs arena in particular, one must wonder whether a Trusted Trader programme can work and won’t become just as compromised as the milieu it was imported from.
It is understandable that the Ministry of Business wants to improve the ease of doing business here and to facilitate businesses as this has been a longstanding impediment to attracting new investors. However, no matter how this is attempted, it cannot be neatly walled off from the corruption scourge which would no doubt find ways to subvert the system. What raised immediate concerns in the April 8th statement about whether this Trusted Trader programme could work was the Ministry’s own revelation that over a period of 10 months, several well-established businesses had had their trade flows interrupted because they refused to pay inducements. This paints a picture of a Customs and Trade Administration that is rife with corruption and menace and not amenable to complaint procedures.
Considering that the change of government in May last year would have come with an automatic reinforcement of the law and order doctrine, one would have expected that the Ministry of Business and the associated line ministries and business support agencies would have taken a zero tolerance stance on any hint of corruption or influence peddling.
The first course of action would have been for the Ministry of Business to have these well-established businesses summon up fortitude and lodge complaints with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) against the corrupt officers. Failing that, the Ministry of Business could have gathered statements from the various complainants and transmitted these to the GRA for the initiation of an investigation. Alternatively, these well established businesses must have access to support organisations like the Private Sector Commission and the Georgetown Chamber to pursue their complaints against customs officers with the GRA and the government. Are the corrupt officers still on the job and demanding bribes? It must be so as this newspaper is unaware of any charges recently being pressed in the public courts against any customs officer for demanding a bribe. Hopefully, the officers haven’t been dismissed without being publicly held culpable for demanding bribes.
If well-established businesses are given relief and placed in a Trusted Trader programme, it is more than likely that corrupt officers will simply move to the next target and the whole cycle begins anew. And what about the less well-established businesses? The Ministry’s press release seemed not to reflect on them. They are undoubtedly just as affected even if they can only afford smaller bribes. Nevertheless, they too, deserve protection from corruption but probably don’t present sufficient business or influence to be included in a Trusted Trader programme.
The fundamental issue is that corruption in all of its manifestations is bad for business and business facilitation. All parts of the government therefore have to adopt absolute zero tolerance for it. The Ministry’s initial statement fell far below this standard. It must also be said that there haven’t been too many stentorian declarations from this government against corruption since it entered office last year and no swift activations of the institutions that can fight it such as the Integrity Commission. Instead, the government is now battling a serious crisis surrounding the actions of its Minister of State who interfered with the GRA on behalf of Baishanlin (hopefully not one of the aforementioned well-established businesses), conduct that raises serious questions about the outlook of this government. Also requiring close scrutiny at the moment is the government’s response to a ruling by the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department against the importation of a certain type of milk by a local company.
Aside from all of this, the usual questions remain. The criteria for selecting a Trusted Trader will undoubtedly lead to concerns that certain businesses are being favoured over others. On what basis was a track record developed and will that company’s business in all its forms be examined to ensure that it is fully compliant with all relevant laws? And with the effluxion of time, isn’t it more than likely that the business of the trusted trader can be infiltrated by those seeking to piggyback on its clearance? Won’t it be the case that those distributing the certification for Trusted Trader status will be induced improperly to include others?
A Trusted Trader programme could undoubtedly be helpful in speeding up business and reducing the frustrations of red tape. However, this government must first show that it is seriously committed to fighting corruption and its various ministries and agencies must exude the preparedness to prosecute this crime wherever it occurs. It would make sense for the Ministry of Business to discuss the problems of the well established businesses with the private sector and the GRA in the hope of weeding out the officers who are engaged in corrupt behaviour and in the interest of imbuing a culture of incorruptibility in the public sector.
