–attempts to equate body that represents thousands of teachers to churches, mandirs, mosques, other social organisations in asking if those ‘groupings’ submit documents

OWING to damning revelations of financial unaccountability, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), particularly the union’s heavyweights are faced with mounting criticisms, especially since teachers and other sections of society are seeking answers for the expenditure of the hard-earned money collected as dues.

Despite the magnitude of the issue, GTU President Mark Lyte skirted the subject when questioned by the Guyana Chronicle, on Monday.

Joining some teachers for the GTU’s orchestrated protest action opposite the Ministry of Education, on Brickdam, Lyte initially refused to speak with the Guyana Chronicle, noting: “… I am not dealing anything with Chronicle….,” before agreeing to proffer a comment after being probed by the reporter.

When asked about the recent revelations by the Audit Office and the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority, Lyte resorted to comparing the union to places of worship and social organisations.

The GTU President, instead of commenting on the issue of unaccountability, said: “Produce the evidence that other groupings: unions, churches, mosques, mandirs are submitting.”
This is despite the fact that the union is representing the nation’s educators and one of the largest groups of public servants in the country.

It was reported that approximately $2 billion collected from teachers by the GTU is unaccounted for, according to the Auditor General’s Office.

Moreover, when asked if he will respond to the statement that the union was not audited for over three decades, the GTU President replied: “I’m not answering the question, you do your investigation.”

In an attempt to clarify what this statement meant, Lyte walked away and dodged this publication.

Last Friday, the Auditor General’s office issued a statement, which noted: “The last Financial Statement submitted by the Guyana Teachers Union to the Audit Office of Guyana for audit was in respect to 1989 and no subsequent Financial Statement has since been submitted.”

The statement from the Auditor General followed one issued by the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority, which revealed that the GTU last filed its financial returns 20 years ago.

According to a brief statement from the registry, it received queries from the media about the audited financial statements of the GTU and in examining the records, it found that “Annual Returns required by Section 35 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap. 98:03 to be filed annually by registered trade unions was last filed by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) for the year ending 31st of December, 2004, on the 31st of March, 2005.”

Under this Act, unions are required to submit a “general statement of the receipts, funds, effects, and expenditure to the Registrar before the 1st May in every year and shall show fully its assets and liabilities at the date…”

The Act states that every trade union which “fails to comply with or acts in contravention of this section, and also every officer of the union so failing, shall each be liable on summary conviction to a fine of seventy-five dollars for each offence.”

In its 2004 audited report, the GTU collected over $40 million in dues. Union dues are automatically deducted from the salaries of the teachers and handed over to the GTU. But the government recently said it will stop doing so and has cited the lack of accountability by the union.

The GTU is currently engaged in a countrywide strike action which the government said is illegal because talks with the Ministry of Education about increases in salaries and other benefits did not break down.