Union challenges Sattaur over 'corrupt public service' remark
Stabroek News
June 26, 2004
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) yesterday demanded an apology from Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur for remarks suggesting that all public servants are corrupt.
The union said in a statement yesterday that it was extremely concerned about a newspaper report in which Sattaur is quoted as saying: "We come from a corrupt public service."
However, in a response via the Government Information Agency (GINA), Sattaur said his views on the public service were taken out of context by the union, which, he said, showed mischievous intent.
According to the GINA release, Sattaur said the statement was used in the context of corruption in general within the public and private sectors. The release said the Commissioner General was merely seeking to give an example, based on employees under his control and the statement was never intended to be a general one.
However the GPSU release said Sattaur is guilty of generalisation and the union accepted the view that not all public servants are honest. "We would be less that honest if we were to pretend that there have not been some corrupt elements within the public service. But we would argue with the greatest confidence that the majority of public servants are hard-working and honest Guyanese, who maintain their integrity, despite the fact that they find it difficult to survive on the salaries they are made to collect."
The GPSU argued that for Sattaur to get the respect he expects, he must first learn to respect others who might not be as comfortable as he is.
Sattaur insisted that the sole purpose of him making the statement was to point to the existence of corruption as a challenge which managers face and it was never intended to be maliciously represented. He said he strongly believes in the law which says that a person is innocent until proven guilty and that he works daily with public servants and has nothing against them. "As a representative of workers within my department, I would expect that the GPSU would give support to all efforts to stamp out corruption, rather than idly spending time, stretching the boundaries of my statement," GINA quoted Sattaur as saying.