\u201cGovernment talks scrutiny but does not walk that talk,\u201d said Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, Tuesday evening as part of his passionate contribution to the final of the 2013 National budget debates.
\nAccording to Ramjattan many attempts have been made to suggest that the parliamentary opposition does not have the people\u2019s interest at heart but he insisted that when efforts are made to ask for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission it is an indication that \u201cwe care.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he made calls for cronyism and corruption to come to a halt, Ramjattan noted that even if there is no proof of such activities it is in fact the place of the Commission to say so. \u201cThe kudos will be had for the benefit of the Government\u2026it would be a proud day when the Public Procurement Commission comes and says \u2018Mr. Ramjattan what you are alleging is all false\u2019. I would stand up and say of course we need a Commission.\u201d
\nRamjattan made a point of highlighting that there has been a plethora of constitutional breaches adding that \u201cwe have it there in the constitution but it has not been operationalised.\u201d
\nHe went on to list the Ombudsman position which has been vacant for the past five years and disclosed too that although there is a Public Service Appellate Tribunal its members are yet to be named.
\n\u201cWe have a constitution full of fancy institutions for scrutiny and for the benefit of workers and public servants and the procurement of contracts, and what do we have none being established to the extent that they could start doing their work.\u201d
\nRamjattan deduced that the ultimate reason for the failure to establish the constitutional mechanisms is the fact that Government has not been \u201c\u201dwalking its talk.\u201d
\nThe AFC leader said that sincere efforts were made by the opposition to have Government incorporate crucial ideas into the 2013 Budget; a move he insisted was premised on the fact that \u201cwe are concerned about the people\u2019s welfare. We had made a 10-point plan in relation to what we would like to see in the Budget but yet it is being stated that we do not care for the people.\u201d
\nAccording to Ramjattan, when attempts are made to ask for public servants\u2019 increases and a reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) it is an indication of earnest concern. \u201cIt is not that we don\u2019t have this country at heart.\u201d
\nAnd it isn\u2019t only the ordinary citizens that the opposition have been fighting for, as according to the AFC Leader, moves were made to help the private sector as well with whom consultations were had.
\nHe noted that a comparison of taxes in relation to other Caribbean countries and Guyana has revealed that Guyana is probably the most taxed country in the English-speaking Caribbean.
\n\u201cOur rates are over 10 and five per cent\u2026I had urged the Minister of Finance to let us in as to what is happening to his tax review committee,\u201d added Ramjattan as he disclosed that Government had last year assured that the Committee would have been proactive and derive recommendations.
\n\u201cLo and behold we understand that the Committee has not met (or) they have met but there was absolutely nothing done in relation to that tax (review)\u2026\u201d
\nRequested tax reduction, according to Ramjattan, is in fact going to ensure, when compared to Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica, \u201con a logical dispassionate arrangement (that) can lead to one thinking that there might very well be a reduction in the amount of taxes collected.\u201d
\nRamjattan noted that the business community has informed that once taxes have been reduced taxpayers are more than likely to pay up. \u201cWe have to live with that reality as economists would say\u2026When it is too high, a number of the entrepreneurs and businessmen start hiding; there is evasion and avoidance.
\n\u201cThey have been pleading for reduction of corporate taxes and we in the AFC have been pleading for a reduction of the VAT.\u201d
\nBut according to Ramjattan, the AFC was last year told in minute details that the reduction of the VAT is not going to help poor people, a claim he slammed as being relative. \u201cIt is an argument that I find rather specious, rather illogical but that\u2019s the argument.\u201d
\nFor this reason, the AFC Leader appealed for the reconvening of a new Committee as soon as possible in order to facilitate the analysis \u201cof our taxes just like when we had the actuarial coming in to see what disaster Dr. Roger Luncheon\u2019s chairmanship and the other board members caused to the NIS\u2026to the extent now that the thing will soon go bankrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cGovernment talks scrutiny but does not walk that talk,\u201d said Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, Tuesday evening as part of his passionate contribution to the final of the 2013 National budget debates. According to Ramjattan many attempts have been made to suggest that the parliamentary opposition does not have the people\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latestnews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image001-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4F7T1-1ax","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4497"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4500,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497\/revisions\/4500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}