Dear Editor,
THE Ministry of Finance noted with astonishment the article “Large-scale joblessness undermines NIS/tax collection – Finance Secretary,” which appeared in the Sunday Times on February 10, 2019, and in particular this extract:

“Three years after the coalition government took office, it has been unable to effectively address the current high rate and according to the Finance Secretary Michael Joseph, the firing of 7000 sugar workers along with others has put a burden on the National Insurance Scheme.

Speaking at the opening of night of the University of Guyana Turkeyen and Tain talks on Thursday at the Pegasus hotel, Joseph said, “What [sic] has happened since is that this government has fired 7000 sugar workers, many others. Let’s say maybe 20,000 more have lost their jobs. Take of the 20,000 more have lost their jobs, just take another 8000 who were paying NIS, so those are people who are not contributing to NIS,” he explained.”

Bizarrely, these quotes, though attributed to the finance secretary appear nowhere in his speech nor in the video recording of the event!

We spoke with the Deputy General Manager of Guyana Times, Mrs. Malisa Nokta, who advised us that the quotes belong to Mr. Jagdeo, but that by some mistake they were attributed to the finance secretary. Further, she said that an apology and retraction will be issued.

While we hope that the apology and retraction will be given the same prominence as the article, Guyana Times has been deathly slow to carry retractions.

Regards
Ministry of Finance