The forestry commission and the geology and mines commission should sign up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56528991

The forestry commission and the geology and mines commission should
sign up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
Stabroek News, Monday, September 17th 2007

Dear Editor,

In your extracts from a GINA report on revenue collection by the Guyana
Forestry Commission (GFC), captioned 'Forestry commission revenue
collection greatly improved - GFC commissioner' (SN, 15.9.07), there
are claims about progress which echo reports of reform of the GFC
accounting system from some years ago. Still, better late than never.
Like other statements recently by the GFC Commissioner (for example,
ITTO Tropical Forestry Update 17 (2) 2007 pages 16-17 on legality
assurance), there are notes on the development of procedures but almost
nothing of putting these procedures into practice. I suggest, Mr
Editor, that the GFC and also the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission
(GGMC) sign up to the international Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (EITI - see www.eitransparency.org) which "supports improved
governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full
publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas,
and mining. The Initiative works to build multi-stakeholder
partnerships in developing countries in order to increase the
accountability of governments." A multi-donor trust fund administered
by the World Bank helps signatories to conform to these reporting
standards. EITI procedures should appeal to the GFC because the
revision of the GFC Act passed by the National Assembly in its last
session in August 2007, although not yet signed by the President, makes
more explicit the need for the audit of GFC accounts.

This proposal would support my call which you captioned 'Given the
waivers granted to Asian timber companies in 2006, what investments did
they make and what taxes did they pay?' (SN, 15.9.07). The GFC is
notorious for the variety and complexity of its taxes, and for the lack
of information about what is billed and what is actually collected,
from whom, how promptly, and what the GFC does about the large backlogs
of unpaid taxes and charges which have been reported.

The Guyana Revenue Authority publishes annually a list of the tax
incentives granted to individual, named enterprises in support of
investment, so with this precedent why is there not more uniformity
across government in disclosure of taxes levied and paid? EITI is a
well-developed system administered from a secretariat in Norway.

Subscription to the EITI would help Guyana to counter the poor
international reputation for government financial management noted by
the US State Department and Transparency International.

Yours faithfully,

Mahadeo Kowlessar