Editorializing with one eye shut

Jul 19, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Stabroek News has expectedly but shamelessly come to the defence of the Guyana Revenue Authority over criticisms that are being made in the media about the management of that agency.

In an editorial in yesterday’s edition, the Stabroek News essays a defence which suggests that it is editorializing with one eye shut.
The Stabroek News claims that most of the correspondence on the controversy at the GRA that appeared in the Kaieteur News “has been indirect, rambling and lacking in specificity.” If this is how Stabroek News feels, it is hard to understand why the Stabroek News would devote an entire editorial to addressing non-specifics.
This tactic by the Stabroek News is not a novelty. It is part of ploy to dismiss the criticisms made not on merit but on the pretext that they lack any supportive or evidential basis because no specifics have been offered.
This is of course far from the truth. If Stabroek New wishes to familiarize itself with the specificities of the issues at hand it does not need to go far. It just needs to rehash some of its reporting over the past few weeks.
It was Stabroek News which on June 28, 2016 carried a news item entitled “GRA sacks Head of customs, HR” in which it was also indicated that a new Deputy Commissioner was appointed. It is these dismissals and consequential promotions, which have led to the widespread concerns being expressed about the GRA.
A number of questions remain unanswered about these dismissals.
Stabroek News remains unconcerned as to whether the full Board of the Guyana Revenue Authority was involved in these decisions. It remains indifferent to the allegations that the basis of these dismissals may not have stemmed from any complaint by the management of the Guyana Revenue Authority.
It remains unperturbed that the heads of the Customs was sent home even though the Minister of Finance has attributed the growth in overall revenues to the tightening up at the ports, which is essentially a customs function. The Stabroek News remains un-baffled as to how the poor facilities or the decline in revenues account for the dismissal of the Human Resource manager.
It is not bothered by the rumor that one of its letter writers from Berbice may be in contention for the position of Human Resource Manager.
The Stabroek News seems to be unmoved by the claims made by the Guyana Public Service Union that there is ‘external interference’ in the work of the Guyana Revenue Authority. It has not had the decency to ask any of the staff members of the GRA about the union’s claims about being demoralized by the current environment at the GRA.
Instead, Stabroek News offers an ingenious defence by disguisedly suggesting that the actions which have drawn the ire of the union may be covered by the governing statues of the GRA. The Stabroek News ought to know by now that any powers of monitoring the management by the Board is of a general nature and does not give the Board the right to transgress on the authority of management.
The powers of appointment and dismissals are circumscribed with due regard to due process. Persons cannot be arbitrarily dismissed. The Board is only concerned with dismissals for persons above a certain rank, unless of course the Board has now assumed the right to sanction all dismissals and disciplinary acts.
No one is denying the right for changes to be effected but these changes need to justified so that a differentiation can be made about fair and unfair actions.
The Stabroek News – before it lectured its readers about how the governing Board arrives at its decisions – should have first verified whether the majority of the Board members were involved in the recent firings promotions and demotions. This is a central bone of contention.
Who engineered the recent actions and who made the decisions?
Stabroek News may wish to advise what is the “grievance mechanism” available to management that are normally not unionized personnel. They must ask themselves if the Board dismisses then to whom does one appeal?

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