Parliament yesterday passed the Revenue Authority Amendment Bill which grants autonomy to the Governing Board of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the area of human resources.

Later a motion to confirm the Customs Duties Amendment order was passed by a majority vote but not until after the PNCR walked out of the National Assembly.

The party contended that the order had expired and that bringing it before the National Assembly yesterday was unlawful.

The amendment bill takes away powers from the Minister of Finance and is focused on the management of the human resources of the authority. The PNCR did not walk out over this bill but did oppose it calling it window dressing for the international lending agencies.

Yesterday’s session of the National Assembly marked the reconvening of Parliament which had been in its annual two-month recess. The sitting took place at the Ocean View Convention Centre at Liliendaal on the East Coast of Demerara.

Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin, in his denunciation of the Customs order, said that according to the evidence he had seen, the laws had not been followed with regard to bringing the order to the House.

But Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran told Opposition MPs that it was not in his power to overturn or terminate the order and if it was indeed unlawful, it would have to be addressed by the courts of Guyana. At this stage, the PNCR, led by Corbin left the building and the motion was carried.

The order, which took effect from September 1, was made by the Minister of Finance and amends, inter alia, the First Schedule part 3 A relating to partial exemptions from duty. Items benefiting from such exemptions include vitamins classified under tariff heading 2106.909.

The order also caters for full exemptions for items such as agricultural machinery and appliances, spare parts, agricultural hand tools, which the Minister certifies will be for use for the development of agriculture. Motor vehicles for the transport of goods being vehicles which are certified by the Minister as being used on, or for the transportation of produce from, agricultural farms, will also be considered duty- free.

The Revenue Authority Amendment Bill was passed after being read a third time with the amendments made to the numbering of the clauses.

Among the provisions of this bill were that the Commissioner-General of the GRA may at any time with the approval of the Governing Board retain the services of professional persons and experts and may pay such remuneration in respect thereof.

Clause 3 of the bill states: “The Commissioner-General with the approval of the Minister (shall) be removable by the Governing Board.”

Minister of Finance, Saisnarine Kowlessar, in bringing the bill before the House said the bill “must be seen in terms of its overall objectives [which are] to improve the management efficiency and the capabilities of the GRA.”

But the PNCR sees the Minister of Finance as the one who will appoint persons to the Governing Board and also fire them. In this vein, the party doubts the autonomy that the Board should have. “If the institution is autonomous [then] it must act independently...the Governing Board is unable to act independently...it is impotent. We fail to see how the Minister could imagine that the Board is autonomous,” Winston Murray said in opposing the bill.

He said too that if the Minister was willing to withdraw himself from the process the party would support the bill. “We are glad to see that there will be a Deputy Commissioner-General,” he added. “We the people of Guyana will not be deceived by this...it does not give autonomy to the Board,” Murray said.

The PNCR had earlier questioned the propriety of the suspension of the Standing Order No. 46 (2) and (3) of the National Assembly for the reading of the Revenue Authority Bill. Corbin said that Guyanese were being ‘hoodwinked’ by the bill, which was a stunt to satisfy the International Financial Institutions and to benefit from HPIC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) funding. He said that the National Assembly deserved an explanation as to why the bill was urgent. (Johann Earle)