By Shuntel Glasgow
In the wake of pressure from the government over its strike, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) yesterday said it is not in breach of financial rules and its audited reports are submitted at every GTU annual conference,
Mark Lyte, its President, told Stabroek News yesterday that the union is currently addressing several issues raised by government. Regarding the submission of financial statements, Lyte said that the system used to collect financial documents seems defunct. According to Lyte, “If you have a state that did not collect from entities since 1989, as it is alleged, then it is a clear case that all the principals in those offices have not been doing their duties. So, you will see this reverberating across all the different unions who are not feeling the need to submit because there is no demand on submissions.”
Lyte added, “We have the same situation with the churches, mandirs and mosques… they also are required to submit their financial statements. So, we should check to see if the mosque is submitting its financial statements as well as the temples and churches, because those are entwined in the law. To deem that non-submission is a case of persons misappropriating funds, it’s really sad because we have had our books audited every year and especially as it leads up to our conferences.”
