The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has refuted an item appearing in the Kaieteur News on July 28, which stated that the union had been delinquent in its submission of annual tax returns and filing of annual returns with the Registrar .
According to GAWU in a letter from its General Secretary, Seepaul Narine, to the Registrar of Trade Unions, Nicole Prince, the information appeared in the Official Gazette of Guyana and “reportedly emanated from the Registrar of Trade Unions, a post which you currently hold.”
As such, the union sought to remind the Registrar that Trade Unions are exempted from the payment of tax but required to file Annual Returns in accordance with Section 35 of the Trade Unions Act; Chapter 98:03, Laws of Guyana. It reiterated that GAWU’s Annual Returns over the past years, up to year 2017, were filed and the union’s Statement of Accounts for 2018 are currently being audited by the Auditor General Office. On completion of this audit, a copy would be filed with the Deeds Registry for the Office of Registrar of Trade Un ions.
GAWU reminded the Registrar that two years ago, in the High Court, in the matter of GAWU vs Khemraj Ramjattan before Justice Nareshwar Harnanan, the Registrar of Trade Unions was summoned and did provide to the Court GAWU’s records for the past seven years for the Court’s perusal.
The union expressed the hope that the letter serves to better the Registrar’s understanding of GAWU’s “fulfillment of its responsibilities,” and would therefore appreciate “a correction of the published statements which are not in keeping with the real situation.”
