Inside first; outside second

Jul 12, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

You are not going to find many private sector companies which advertise externally for senior positions. These companies understand the need to motivate their staff to pursue long-term careers in their firms and therefore they will only advertise a senior position externally if they do not have someone internally to fill it.
It is always worrying when a national tax collection agency has to advertise externally to fill internal senior positions. The Guyana Revenue Authority, by now should have had enough trained, qualified and experienced personnel to fill the position of Commissioner General.
This past week we read in the media that the Guyana Revenue Authority is re-advertising for the position of Commissioner General. Previous reports had indicated that the position was advertised and an appointment may have been imminent. Now we are learning that the position has to be re-advertised.
It remains a disappointment that for an organization so large that a successor to Khurshid Sattaur could not have been found from within the Guyana Revenue Authority.
Perhaps, there are persons from within who can fill the shoes of Sattaur who for all his faults was a no-nonsense person and someone, whose record of increasing the revenues of the country makes him stand out as the most successful tax administrator Guyana has ever produced.
The new government must not assume that there are not sufficient competent persons within the GRA to fill the top position. It should by now have realized that there are professionals within the government who will work and work to the best of their ability regardless of who is in power.
When Sattaur was appointed there were no external advertisements. There may not have even been an advertisement. The vacancy was filled from within the tax agency. It is a system that worked.
Sattaur’s predecessor was, at the time of his employment, a retired income tax chief. So he can be said to have come from within the tax system. But he did not last long.
There were other persons who were recruited to hold senior positions within the GRA but not many people will accept that these “outsiders” did any better than an ‘insider’ may have done.
Some of those who were recruited to senior positions within the Guyana Revenue Authority had no prior taxation experience. And it showed. The lack of tax experience unfortunately opened these persons to the charge of being political appointees.
Most countries have one tax agency. The Guyana Revenue Authority is the only tax collection authority in Guyana. It is a large organization. It employs hundreds of persons. It must say something about the quality of our tax administration if the longest serving Commissioner General, cannot be succeeded by someone from within the Authority.
Tax agencies should ideally be filled by tax administrators. There should be a process of competition for the job but there is no reason why that competition should not come from within.
You need persons with tax experience to fill the top positions. It is too risky to place persons who were never career tax officials to head tax agencies.
The reason is simple. Taxation is a specialized skill. It cannot simply be substituted. If you have to fill a senior position within a tax agency, fill it with someone who understands and knows taxation.
The taxation department is an important department. It is important to the economy of the country. It should be filled by someone who has a recent understanding not just of the tax system in Guyana, but also on the organization which that person has to manage.
This is why it is disappointing to learn that experienced personnel are being fired and that positions are being advertised externally.
A case can be made for such external advertising of posts if after an internal process no suitable candidate can be found. If having looked at all the candidates for senior positions and having interview them, it is found that none of them is suitable, then by all means advertise, but do not advertise externally when there may be persons internally who can fill the void.

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