How can I avoid this kind of executive lawlessness and persecution?
DEAR EDITOR,
I am a retiree, and a remigrant living at Den Amstel Village, West Coast Demerara. Since I returned to Guyana on July 19, 2013, I have been experiencing a whole heap of situations which are not surprising, because I was warned of the unprecedented levels of corruption and executive lawlessness which was commonplace in this society.
This sort of activity is present at the highest government departments and people seem to have accepted that they can do nothing to restrain these miscreants. Fear of persecution by these ‘officials’ or even losing one’s life is a distinct possibility.
My first taste of this was when I applied for remigrant status. I submitted a list of items for duty-free concessions. The list included a Grand Cherokee Jeep and a boat. I was granted remigrant status but was told by the person acting in the capacity of remigration officer that the Minister had decided that I could not be granted duty-free concessions for the Jeep because I had not registered and insured the vehicle in The Bahamas.
She claimed that this was indicated to me in the list of required documents which the Ministry had published. I pointed out to her that in my opinion this was not so. In the letter that granted me remigrant status, there was nothing that stated the reason for the Minister’s action. The list of items that was approved did not list the Grand Cherokee Jeep. I have had to take legal action over this issue.
My second issue was over a workshop folding crane which was shipped to Guyana by Tropical Shipping. When I arrived in Guyana on July 19, 2013, I visited the GNIC wharf and was sure that I saw this item in the warehouse. However when I turned up to clear the item, I was told that the folding crane had not arrived..Subsequently, I had to claim compensation for this. The money granted could not enable me to repurchase and ship to Guyana..
My third problem was when I found out that there was no collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance even though these were supposed to implement the Government’s policy on Remigration. The Guyana Revenue Authority has claimed that they have their own rules, and statements made by the Ministry of Foreign in relation to advice to remigrants is Foreign Affairs’ ‘own business’.
My fourth issue that again exposed the executive lawlessness was when I applied for permission to the Commissioner-General to re-export my Jeep. I was told that I would be informed when the approval was granted. In fact, I ‘would receive a call’. This never happened. Six weeks later, during one of my visits to GRA, I paid a call to the commissioner’s office and was taken to an officer, who informed me that permisson had been granted. I then had to inform the office that I was forced to change plans because of the long delay of the reply.
The latest issue is one which involves the GT&T. I paid my internet bill on Monday January 3, 2014, at the Fellowship Post Office, the day it was due. I called 0488 and submitted the receipt number and amount paid. I was told that the information would be passed on to the relevant personnel. To my surprise, on Wednesday February 5, 2014, my internet connection was disconnected. At about 8.30 am. I got an apology from the secretary of the Director of Customer Services, and was told that the service would be restored by 11 o’clock. I enquired why it was that I had to endure this situation. I suggested that GT&T could make it much simpler for persons (customers) to make payment, by setting up a ‘secure website’ with all the information of their accounts on line. This would do much to improve their revenue collection and get rid of possible avenues for corruption. I have done so on several occasions, but to no avail. My internet connection was restored at 10:48 am, over two hours later. The only redeeming factor was that I did not have to wait until 11:00 am.
George Isaac Jordan
