‘This new system was designed apparently to increase one’s blood pressure and give a person a stroke by even more frustration’
By Dr Neil Gosine
THE pressure people see for just getting the simple public services done in this country is unbelievable.
One of the duties of any government is to enrich the lives of its citizens by making their lives easier. Not true in Trinidad and Tobago, the situation is quite the opposite. We see many challenges for doing business in T&T and the factors that affects us are: low productivity in the national labour force, corruption, government bureaucracy and foreign exchange controls.
We have become accustomed to believing that the government’s theory is to suffer the population so that they feel so grateful after the many years of waiting to get something simple done, that could have been done in a couple of days or in one month.
They have made it so difficult to get anything done in T&T that it seems commonplace to be disrespected at a public service office, to get bad treatment and the perception that we are bothering the public servant to actually do their job.
It has become so ingrained in our psyche that this is the normal treatment perpetuated on the citizens. For example, a friend was so elated after receiving the new Woodbrook lease after running around for 14 years following the expiry of the previous one, they were just so thankful that they got it renewed. Worst still is the residents of Bamboo that have not had their leases renewed for more than 35 years and many wonder whether they will live to see the new leases. This is the norm here in sweet T&T.
Meanwhile, siblings are losing their inheritance when there are joint lives deeds in place following the passing of the original lessee (parent). Remember as an elections ploy, just before every general election though, new leases are being freely distributed to persons in order to regularise their land tenure as an enticement to vote for the government.
The issue that really bothered me today is the changing system at The Company’s Registry. Initially, a person just had to complete the Company’s Annual Return – Form 28 and file annually at the office on Lower Richmond Street. However, about three years ago, they increased the requirements and now two forms are now required to be filed – Forms 28 and 45. These forms could have easily been incorporated into one form.
To make matters worse, another Form 42 must be completed and signed in the presence of a Commissioner of Affidavits. This form is only to confirm that you are the owner of the shares of that Company. So it is time consuming that every year you must complete this same process. The bureaucracy is tedious and just a waste of time.
This no doubt has created a lot of work for commissioners of affidavits as well as attorneys who definitely need to make more money on citizen’s heads. The bureaucracy is so frustrating to complete the new forms. With instructions being barked at you from counter clerks contributes to the confusion and the general unpleasant atmosphere at the Company’s Registry.
When Covid came, a new “online failure” was created. The term “online” gives one the impression that the filings will be easier, but that’s not the case in the Company’s Registry. After the decline in Covid cases, they have now gone back to the old system of “in person filing” – parallel to the “online system”. This system frequently crashes and in December last year it “crashed” leaving everyone in limbo since no transactions could be completed.
A new system called “CROS” which should have more appropriately been called “CROSS” was introduced on February 1, 2023. It is a real CROSS to deal with it! This new system was designed apparently to increase one’s blood pressure and give a person a stroke by even more frustration. You first have to obtain an individual PIN number. The wait to get this individual PIN number is endless as I have applied for it over four months now and I am still waiting for it. If you have five companies, you are required to have five different email addresses. Well this one really gives me a conniption. How can you monitor five email addresses? Whoever created this new system is definitely missing something between his/ her ears.
That’s not all. The form must be filled online, but to make matters worse, you must go down to the Ministry of Legal Affairs and pay the fees in person. Only then can you complete the filing. However, you are still not done, since the completed form must now be printed and taken down to the Company’s registry for stamping.
What an elaborate web of horse manure that has been woven by the Company’s Registry for the businesses in T&T. How can anybody ever talk about the ease of doing business here when the processes keep getting more and more difficult?
This government better come up with some extraordinary ideas to ease the bureaucracy that they afflict on their citizens or we may never recover from giving the reins of power to a PNM-led Government ten years in consecutively. Does anyone in this Government truly understand what the ease of doing business actually means?
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
The Ease of Doing Business in T&T
‘This new system was designed apparently to increase one’s blood pressure and give a person a stroke by even more frustration’
THE pressure people see for just getting the simple public services done in this country is unbelievable.
One of the duties of any government is to enrich the lives of its citizens by making their lives easier. Not true in Trinidad and Tobago, the situation is quite the opposite. We see many challenges for doing business in T&T and the factors that affects us are: low productivity in the national labour force, corruption, government bureaucracy and foreign exchange controls.
We have become accustomed to believing that the government’s theory is to suffer the population so that they feel so grateful after the many years of waiting to get something simple done, that could have been done in a couple of days or in one month.
They have made it so difficult to get anything done in T&T that it seems commonplace to be disrespected at a public service office, to get bad treatment and the perception that we are bothering the public servant to actually do their job.
It has become so ingrained in our psyche that this is the normal treatment perpetuated on the citizens. For example, a friend was so elated after receiving the new Woodbrook lease after running around for 14 years following the expiry of the previous one, they were just so thankful that they got it renewed. Worst still is the residents of Bamboo that have not had their leases renewed for more than 35 years and many wonder whether they will live to see the new leases. This is the norm here in sweet T&T.
Meanwhile, siblings are losing their inheritance when there are joint lives deeds in place following the passing of the original lessee (parent). Remember as an elections ploy, just before every general election though, new leases are being freely distributed to persons in order to regularise their land tenure as an enticement to vote for the government.
The issue that really bothered me today is the changing system at The Company’s Registry. Initially, a person just had to complete the Company’s Annual Return – Form 28 and file annually at the office on Lower Richmond Street. However, about three years ago, they increased the requirements and now two forms are now required to be filed – Forms 28 and 45. These forms could have easily been incorporated into one form.
To make matters worse, another Form 42 must be completed and signed in the presence of a Commissioner of Affidavits. This form is only to confirm that you are the owner of the shares of that Company. So it is time consuming that every year you must complete this same process. The bureaucracy is tedious and just a waste of time.
This no doubt has created a lot of work for commissioners of affidavits as well as attorneys who definitely need to make more money on citizen’s heads. The bureaucracy is so frustrating to complete the new forms. With instructions being barked at you from counter clerks contributes to the confusion and the general unpleasant atmosphere at the Company’s Registry.
When Covid came, a new “online failure” was created. The term “online” gives one the impression that the filings will be easier, but that’s not the case in the Company’s Registry. After the decline in Covid cases, they have now gone back to the old system of “in person filing” – parallel to the “online system”. This system frequently crashes and in December last year it “crashed” leaving everyone in limbo since no transactions could be completed.
A new system called “CROS” which should have more appropriately been called “CROSS” was introduced on February 1, 2023. It is a real CROSS to deal with it! This new system was designed apparently to increase one’s blood pressure and give a person a stroke by even more frustration. You first have to obtain an individual PIN number. The wait to get this individual PIN number is endless as I have applied for it over four months now and I am still waiting for it. If you have five companies, you are required to have five different email addresses. Well this one really gives me a conniption. How can you monitor five email addresses? Whoever created this new system is definitely missing something between his/ her ears.
That’s not all. The form must be filled online, but to make matters worse, you must go down to the Ministry of Legal Affairs and pay the fees in person. Only then can you complete the filing. However, you are still not done, since the completed form must now be printed and taken down to the Company’s registry for stamping.
What an elaborate web of horse manure that has been woven by the Company’s Registry for the businesses in T&T. How can anybody ever talk about the ease of doing business here when the processes keep getting more and more difficult?
This government better come up with some extraordinary ideas to ease the bureaucracy that they afflict on their citizens or we may never recover from giving the reins of power to a PNM-led Government ten years in consecutively. Does anyone in this Government truly understand what the ease of doing business actually means?
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.