Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporatised
Stabroek News
April 20, 2003
In a Bill recently passed in the National Assembly, the Demerara Harbour Bridge has been removed from the Guyana Revenue Authority and made into a separate corporation. The Bill was passed over the objections of the opposition GAP/WPA Member of Parliament who noted its several major deficiencies which could hardly have been rectified by the amendments.
There are so many things missing from the legislation that it must rank as one of the worst pieces of legislation even by the standards of recent Parlia-ments. The Act sets out the arrangements for a five-person Board all of whom, including the Trade Union representative, are to be nominated by the concerned ‘Minister,’ who during what passed for a debate showed neither concern nor respect for the several comments on the need for provisions regarding liabilities and responsibilities of the directors, payments of fees and expenses, recruitment of staff, accounting and auditing, funding, surpluses, capital, dividends etc, etc. The GAP/WPA MP pointed out that the corporation could have been tidily brought under the Public Corporations Act but the Minister was not in any mood to listen.
This is how the “government was legally advised and that was that.” Well, it was not, and none of the persons associated with this Act will later look back on it with any pride - not the Attorney General, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, the legal draftsperson and hopefully, even the Minister.
For the lesser Guyanese, it is an embarrassment. It makes one wonder about the deficiencies of Parliament, and whether these can be rectified. It is surely time that President Jagdeo sent home his surplus Ministers. It is not the responsibility of the taxpayers of this country to maintain them in office well beyond their useful lives.
