Government needs to stop treating civic bodies as businesses

Mar 18, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor

On Saturday, March 9th an eight-page Notice of Default published in daily newspapers threatened over 100 named organizations, with being ‘Struck Off’ the Register of Companies unless they provide a range of information to the Registry within 28 days. The authority for this demand was stated to be Section 153 of the Companies Act of 1991 and the AMLCFT Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023.

Among the ‘companies’ listed are every kind of organization in Guyana – religious, sporting, cultural, and business, including the likes of Jesus Rescue Mission, Mercy Hospital, the Guyana Muslim Mission Limited and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA). The information, required from 2012 includes audited accounts, profit & loss statements and a range of information on Beneficial Ownership. The idea that the international Anti-Money Laundering authorities require this range of information from such organisations is not only absurd, it reveals the contempt in which the concept of corruption is held in Guyana.

The GHRA will conform with the request for information, our issue is not complying with the requirements of the law, it is that as a non-profit organization, we should not have to be automatically attuned with changes taking place in the commercial world. The GHRA is registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee in 1979 has and produced audited accounts for all the forty-odd years between then and now.

The GHRA has no difficulty with the Commercial & Deeds Registry reviewing its lists for commercial companies that may be defunct or remiss in submitting required information. Nor do we object to non-profit organizations having to conform with regulations designed for them. We staunchly object, however, to commercial requirements being automatically extended to non-profit organizations.

Any objective observer would ask why, for example, the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC), which handles billions of dollars of public funds and was last audited in 2012 is not under scrutiny. Moreover, respected local and overseas professional auditors have challenged the Auditor-General for signing off on very defective official audits of the Natural Resources Fund – again handling billions.  Surely this chaos in Government finances merits much greater attention from the AMLCTF than the likes of the Georgetown Pony Club!, which is also on the Registry List.

The mind-set of drawing no distinction among the organizations it monitors is not peculiar to the Commercial Registry. It is a hold-over from the days when Marxism-Leninism ruled the day in the ruling party, and continues to intrudes wherever this party intersects with civil society. Maybe removing the Marxist-Leninist tag from the Party’s Constitution would be the first step in Government getting a modern mind-set on how society is composed. The GHRA’s complaint with the persistent unwillingness of the Government to recognize a fundamental difference between non-profit civil society organizations and commercial companies is widely shared among civic organizations in Guyana.

Countries that genuinely prioritize transparency and accountability reflect this primarily in their laws. In contrast, Guyana seeks to project a concern for abiding by the AMLCTF not in its laws but by chasing every charitable body in the country.  Moreover, Section 153 of the Companies Act of 1991 contains a Form on Beneficial Ownership which all the listed organizations are ordered to complete but which contains not a single question relevant to non-profit organizations.

As an aside, it should be pointed out that Beneficial Ownership is a new concept for Guyana, being promoted as a result, not from conviction, but from international concern over corruption. The Guyana Government, has recently contracted international consultants to devise a pathway for comprehensive implementation of Beneficial Ownership which also involves educating the population, business and Government entities on how it will be implemented. However, without waiting for the consultants’ recommendations, or providing a single piece of guidance, the Registry has launched its own demands.

As an aside the question might be raised whether the Deeds & Commercial Registry exempt from the normal courtesies of writing to defaulting companies and civic bodies?

In light of the above, the GHRA strongly recommends the Commercial & Deeds Registry: Replace its ill-considered demand with separate requirements from profit and non-profit bodies; Set aside BO requirements until the work of the consultants is available, Make the necessary legal and administrative changes to treat routinely with profit and non-profit organizations as distinct in nature.

Sincerely
Executive Committee
Guyana Human Rights Association

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• Commercial & Deeds, e Georgetown, Guyana, Muslim Mission, organisations, recommendations, The GHRA

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