Revenue Authority to roll out 3-year strategy soon

DPI, Guyana, Monday, February 4, 2019

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) will be rolling out its three-year strategic plan within the coming weeks to guide the tax authority’s operational plan.

During a recent press conference, GRA’s Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia confirmed that the plan was approved by the authority’s Board of Directors and will be ready for dissemination within a week.

Statia explained that emanating from the plan will be yearly structural changes within GRA which will see succession planning and specific administrative changes. This will allow the staff and the general public to see where GRA is headed over the next three years, he added.

“What we have recognised over the years is that we need to know where we are going, we needed to understand our direction… it wouldn’t cost us anything to implement this plan; it is going to finetune our operations and act as a guide to how we are going to move forward.”

In 2017, the GRA had requested a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to commence the strategic plan. According to Statia, 18 months after GRA receiving the loan, it could not commence that plan, and this was as a result of the stipulations laid out by IDB.

Statia further explained that instead of continuing with the IDB, GRA decided to make it an in-house project and requested assistance from the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC).

Additionally, Statia revealed that during 2019, there will be a major revamp of the organisational chart.

“During 2019, you’ll see some executive staff changes. The entire organisational chart would be revamped so that it would provide for more efficient operations. We would continue with the staff rotations and improvements. For the first time in 18 years, we have been able to put into place a performance appraisal system, whereby employees will be appraised now and on their past performance… that should be completed in March and they will then be in a position to get their increments.”

Further, to address some of the concerns of the staff, Statia noted the GRA has done some debunching to ensure a level playing field is created when it comes to remuneration for staff.

“Staff have been complaining for years that those who enter with them have been getting the same pay as those who have been here for five, six or 10 years. We’ve gone through that exercise, and we’ve remedied that and that is from December 31, 2018.”

Statia said that GRA continues to provide enhanced tax training for its staff.

Synieka Thorne

Image: Jules Gibson