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. Especially, since it seems like the agency has been taking the bold steps needed to curb corruption and the loss of revenue, as it should as Guyana’s major revenue collection agency.
Despite these negative comments, the performance of the agency under the astute leadership of Mr. Sattaur, CCH, 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 GRA contributes about 75% of its revenue 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 school children 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, Mr. Sattaur I would like to recommend to you that you place some of your enforcement at #78 Village and other areas in that vicinity to curb the high level of corrupt practices among some of your officers, since BASS is doing nothing about this. There are big drug, guns and smuggling rings in the Corriverton area which is robbing your organization and the government of millions of dollars in revenue.
I am kindly asking you to please look into this matter.