Dear Editor,
A couple of months ago I attempted to pay my rates and taxes at the Unity-Vereeniging NDC office located at the Mahaica market. At that time I was told by NDC personnel that the NDC was moving from manual tax payment collection to computerized tax payments and I would need to return when they completed the process. I enquired whether there would be interest incurred by the delay in payment and was assured that because the delay was on their end there would be no interest. To my surprise (but then again this is Guyana) I returned a month later and was advised by the clerk that interest was due on the payment. I protested but the usual claim, that all edicts, including in this instance to charge interest, was coming from George-town, was used.
The clerk then proceeded to ask for the receipt for my previous payment and then manually input the information from that receipt into the system because that is the process being used to populate the new system. Editor, I have so many questions on who authorized the implementation of a computerized system to coincide when taxes are due? Why couldn’t this have been scheduled earlier? Why isn’t staff given some latitude to bypass the collection of interest payment when it’s not the fault of the taxpayer? Why couldn’t a taxpayer make the payment as scheduled and the clerk could have entered it later? Why isn’t information for everyone already in the system? How would the NDC know if someone misses their payment?
The second issue which is a longstanding one is the cleaning of drainage and irrigation waterways. In the majority of areas, drainage canals have not been cleaned for years and there are huge bushes which of course lead to mosquito infestations. When the trenches are cleaned only the middle portion is cleaned and the edges are left with weeds and bushes. No one comes to inspect the work and no one ever complains.
Third, our streets are in an awful, potholed state and are bereft of streetlights.
This NDC is in desperate need of proper management.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
