Smuggling rings deprive the GRA of revenue

Dear Editor,

I would like to congratulate the GRA for putting measures in place towards the provision of a better service to the public and taking steps recently to ensure higher levels of transparency.

The recent criticisms of the agency by some letter writers, are not surprising since as expected not everyone appreciates change, more especially since it seems as if the agency has been taking the bold steps needed to curb corruption and the loss of revenue. This is as it should be, since it is Guyana’s major revenue collection agency.

Despite these negative comments, the performance of the agency under the astute leadership of Mr Sattaur has been very commendable, and I congratulate him for his dedication year after year, despite the challenges he seems to face on a daily basis. Praise should also go to his dedicated staff, as their contribution towards improving the services offered by the agency was noted when I visited the LRO on June 21 to renew my motor vehicle licence.

I am told by some of my colleagues that the GRA makes a major contribution to the economy and this goes towards the development of the country. It may be reasonable to assume that without that revenue, the government would not have been in a position to pay increased salaries, uniform vouchers for schoolchildren and improved infrastructure throughout the country.

Citizens must understand that no system is perfect; there must be hiccups which are not deliberate. Instead of getting personal, they should support the Commissioner General and his team who seem to be really trying their best to make systems work at the GRA.

In closing, I would like to recommend that Mr Sattaur place some of his enforcement resources at certain parts of the Corentyne to curb the high level of corrupt practices among some of his officers since BASS is doing nothing about this. There are smuggling rings in the Corriverton area which are robbing his organization and the government of millions of dollars in revenue.

Yours faithfully
Joseph Ramlall