TRANSPARENCY AND THE BUSINESS DECLINE

Oct 22, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I am once again asking the media that when reporting on appointments made by the government, be it to Boards or to public offices, to kindly indicate the age of the persons being appointed. The media should also ascertain whether the persons were ever members of Guyana’s military.
Guyanese have way of poking fun at situations. This is one way in which Guyanese defuse tensions. The big joke around town these days, is if a person is over 60 or was in the past associated with the military, then that person has a good chance of nailing down a good job within the administration. This is the Guyanese way of hinting that retirees and ex-army personnel are being re-employed in the government.
Before the joke becomes a reality, it is important that the government tries to be more transparent in the manner in which it makes appointments. This is not a PR problem; it is about being more transparent.
The situation would not be all that bad had it not been for concerns that there have been no advertisements for a number of important positions. This goes against the commitment to transparency that the new government promised.
There continues to be indications that the government has no intention of advertising certain positions within the public sector. It is now being suggested that a frontrunner has already been identified for a top position within the State-owned media.
It is not surprising that coinciding with these rumours has been a smear campaign against the person who is likely to be replaced. If the government is transparent about appointments, there is no need for the character assassination of anyone. It is unbecoming, it is unnecessary and it is distasteful.
People have lives to live. No one is standing in the way of the new government from doing what it pleases and therefore there is no need for the reputations of persons to be besmirched. If persons have done wrong, there are legal measures which can be taken against them rather than condemning them in the court of public opinion.
It was disturbing to read that the Ministry of Business had to outsource the recruitment of someone to head the Guyana Office for Investment. According to that Ministry, a private firm has been selected to develop the terms of reference for the job, advertise the position, conduct the interviews and make the recommendation for appointment.
Is this an attempt at transparency or is it a lack of capacity on the part of the Ministry of Business? Why would the Ministry of Business have to ask a private firm to develop the Terms of Reference for a position in a public corporation?
Guyana developed the plans to build a controversial hotel and yet Guyana cannot find the means to write the Terms of Reference for its investment and export promotion agency?
The Terms of Reference of that position must be located in some file within the Office of GOINVEST and if it is not there surely it cannot be rocket science to develop them. It is shocking to know the government has money to spend on something like this. The government must be awash with funds.
Well apparently not because the Guyana Revenue Authority is being asked to accelerate the collection of revenues, especially in reports that motor vehicle imports have declined appreciably in recent times, resulting in a massive shortfall for revenues collected from this source.
The government needs to wake up to the reality that it will take more than revenue collection to boost the economy. The government has to address the structural problems that are at the core of the decline in businesses activity.
The problem is that businesses are waiting on the government. The businesses do not want to invest, only to find that the government drops the rate of the VAT. Those who would have imported at the higher VAT will feel, even though this is not technically so, that they will lose financially. Businesses are therefore not committing until they are sure that policies will become more certain and transparent.
Once the government’s tax policies become more predictable and transparent, the business slowdown will end. This slowdown is because the business community is not sure what will happen next year and so they are adopting a wait- and- see approach.

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