Political infiltration

Apr 07, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Guyana Revenue Authority has announced that it will not be allowing political interference in its work. This announcement was made following an allegation that a high political operative had ordered the Guyana Revenue Authority not to seize vehicles owned by a major Chinese investor operating in Guyana.
The vehicles have since been seized by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) which in responding to the controversy that erupted, indicated that it will not be allowing political interference in its work.
Perhaps, what the Guyana Revenue Authority is calling political interference may simply be a case of advice from a political source. Or it could be a case of a lack of professionalism on the part of whoever received the so-called “orders” to say to the person giving those “orders” that you have no locus standi.
In the 1950’s, and early 1960’s there is no way that any senior public servant would have even entertained an order from a Minister who was not the subject Minister of that public servant.
The only way that could have happened was if there was a need for information to be provided or shared. Senior public servants, back in the day, would have been following instructions from any Minister who did not have ministerial responsibility for their department.
All those protocols went out of the window with the Declaration of Sophia which made the party more powerful than the State.
The GRA will have to defend its actions. The breach of an agreement with the government has remedies in tort. The non-payment of taxes is punishable by criminal prosecution. It is left to be seen whether the GRA will move to criminal charges.
It cannot hope to hold the vehicles indefinitely. Seizure of vehicles, under the common law does not affect ownership. Neither the GRA nor the State has propriety rights over the vehicles. The GRA will at some stage of the other have to take some form of legal action to do so. It is left to be seen what action they will take and whether that action will be political or professional.
The announcement by the Guyana Revenue Authority that it will not broker any political interference should be hailed. Transparency International (Guyana) should be jumping up and down congratulating the GRA.
The management of the GRA should issue a directive to all of its staff members informing them that no political directions should be taken from any political operative in the government. That directive should detail the punishment should any member of staff be found acting on a political instruction.
This will set a good example for other government agencies to follow.
The GRA has now stated its policy in relation to political interference. It should now state its policy in relation to political appointees within the GRA since the “rumour mill” has it that someone who has never worked in the GRA before is likely to be the front-runner for the position of the Commissioner General.
It would be a national tragedy if the position of the head of Guyana’s tax department is filled by a political appointee. It would destroy the credibility of the Guyana Revenue Authority and undermine its independence if this were to happen.
In fact, placing a political appointee as the head of the Guyana Revenue Authority would be far worse than ordering the GRA not to seize some vehicles from some company. A political appointee would taint the entire GRA and make it lose the confidence of the people.
The appointment of a political commissar would raise greater suspicion than the alleged photocopying of the tax file of a Minister of the government by someone within the Guyana Revenue Authority.
The former Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority is still to name the person who was alleged to have done that, but it did cause some uneasiness within the Guyanese society.
People were worried that this alleged copying of the tax file of a senior Minister could be used as a form of political blackmail.
Political interference can be prevented. But what about political infiltration, can it be rooted out?
The Guyana Revenue Authority must ensure that its appointment of the future Commissioner General can withstand standards of international scrutiny. The GRA should therefore outsource to a professional company, the selection of the person to head the GRA.
It should ask an international body to establish appropriate criteria and then it should ask another international organization to determine, through a competitive process, who should be selected for the job.

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Political infiltration

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