Dear Editor,
The 2015 Auditor General Report highlighted the violation of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, 2003 (FMA) by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). The GRA is in the habit of pointing fingers at all and sundry, especially members of the private sector regarding their alleged violation of the law, but when it comes to their own internal transgressions, they make a determined attempt to spin the truth. On page 47 of the 2015 Auditor General Report, it reveals that the last GRA Report laid in Parliament was the 2014 Report. I enquired and found that the 2015 Report is still to be laid in Parliament.
This is a violation of the law which clearly states in Article 74 of the FMA that nine months after the closure of the year, the financial statement of all of these entities should be presented to Parliament. So where is the GRA’s Annual Report for 2015?
Organizations like the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Guyana and the GRA ought be the gold standard on public financial behaviour. To the credit of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Guyana, they have published their financial statement for 2016 and continue to meet their statutory publication of data. The GRA on the other hand is still to publish their 2015 and 2016 financial statements. This state of affairs exposes the lack of focus on accountability at the highest levels in the GRA.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh
