The monster on our backs

Jul 15, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The State in Guyana, even in democratic times, has been highly repressive. The most tyrannical section of the State has been its coercive arm, the police.
But there are equally other agencies with which the public has to interface, which have been extremely frustrating to deal with. The list is long but a few stand out – the Bureau of Standards, the Central Housing and Planning Authority and the Foods and Drugs Department.
Any new government which comes into office in 2020 should dismantle these organizations and replace each with successor organizations that are rule-based and time-bound systems.
This past week, the government passed a raft of legislation in the National Assembly aimed at supporting the country’s financial architecture. The parliamentary Opposition feels that the government is bowing to the World Bank demands and that the new laws are part of the post-conditionalities imposed by the Bank.
All of these externally-influenced laws are intended to create a more transparent and predictable financial system, even more so now that so many foreign investors are eyeing up Guyana’s oil prospects. They now want to come to Guyana to do business, but they do not want a financial system whose rules do not support predictability.
But what about Guyana’s non-tariff trade measures? Should these not also be made more predictable? Any importer who has had to deal with the Food and Drug Department and the Bureau of Standards would acknowledge the need for an improved rule-based and time-bound system.
The problems with Guyana’s non-tariff measures is the lack of clarity which, in turn, gives rise to administrative arbitrariness and discretion, both of which are not healthy for facilitating business. The World Bank therefore missed the mark when it pressed for reforms in the country’s financial laws; the bigger bugbears to business are to be found in the country’s non-tariff measures, particularly those administered by the Bureau of Standards and the Food and Drugs Department.
Importers have complained about the time-consuming, excessive and unnecessary paperwork required when dealing with these two institutions. Requests for certificates are made when in fact these certificates bear little relevance to imports. For example, in the past, persons importing a product were required to show that it was approved for internal sale within the market of the exporting country. That is wholly archaic regulation because, as if now well-known, there are some products which are made exclusively for the export market. To therefore ask an importer to produce an approval that the product could be sold within the exporting market is to ask that person to do the impossible. Yet, some importers in Guyana were subject, in the past, to this onerous requirement.
The Food and Drugs Department has also concerned itself with what it deems fake advertising. But this should be no concern to such agency. The country instead should improve its copyright protection laws to allow for those companies who feel that counterfeit products are being imported to challenge such importations. But this should not be the responsibility of agencies concerned with food safety or product standards.
What is needed is a clear system of rules which should be made public and which limits administrative discretion. The rules should be subject to pruning. All those rules which are unnecessary should be degutted from the system, ensuring only those which serve to protect consumers and health and safety.
Persons should not be required to have every shipment examined. Once a product is approved for importation, it should be automatically admitted into the country with provision made for inspections based on reasonable grounds. Similarly, once the specifications of a product are established by the Bureau of Standards, these should be made public, so that all concerned know what are the rules beforehand, thereby avoiding arbitrariness and delays
Delays are the order of the day when dealing with the Central Planning and Housing Authority. These delays incur costs and it is no wonder that property values are so prohibitive in this country. The approval of plans takes an inordinate time and when the costs associated with these delays are added up, they translate to billions of dollars each year.
It is near to impossible for a poor man to purchase a property in the city. The properties in the city are being gobbled up by business people, and the reason why is that zoning has gone out of the window, thereby allowing any businessman to buy any property anywhere and establish businesses, even in residential areas.
There is therefore need for a comprehensive reform of the administrative State. The administrative State should be dismantled. This is no monkey; it is a monster. It is time to get this monster off the backs of the people.

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