Anti Gay National Parents' Teachers Assc of Jamaica Owes Taxes!

In a previous post (NPTAJ And Anti-Gay Groups Want J-FLAG Kept Out Of Schools & deal with homelessness)
I had looked at the National Parents' Teachers Association of Jamaica, NPTJA's homophobic stance on teaching on sexual orientation in schools. They just showed up their ignorance and misguided thinking on many fronts. At the time, sadly on JFLAG's part it was the second time most publicly was told off to go and address homelessness by an outside entity and individual, the first major one being this one: Mutabaruka: JFLAG & gov’t should do more for homeless gays 

"The NPTAJ rejects totally, the offer made by J-FLAG to conduct counselling in schools," Hannam said. J-FLAG had said it is willing to help the education ministry and guidance counsellors improve their assistance to students who have problems with their sexuality. J-FLAG's offer of assistance came after news that some of the more than 800 guidance counsellors in the school system are refusing to help students identified as gay or lesbian. In a statement, the lobby group's executive director, Dane Lewis, said he is deeply concerned at the reports and is calling for the education ministry to intervene with strategies to equip counsellors to help students.

The national parent-teacher body has, however, viewed J-FLAG's offer with much suspicion, noting that the offer appears to be another attempt by J-FLAG to introduce elements of what was uprooted from a Home and Family Life (HFLE) curriculum early last year. The HFLE curriculum was the subject of much controversy after material highlighting homosexuality was discovered in a text book prescribed by the curriculum. Now with the issue of some guidance counselors allegedly refusing to offer counsel to lesbian and gay students igniting much public debate, the NPTAJ said it is rejecting any attempt by J-FLAG to offer counselling in schools.

Hannam argued that, "If JFLAG is serious about counselling, they can offer those services privately." He also called on the Ministry to reject the offer made by the gay-rights group. "Let the guidance counsellors do their job," he said.

now comes news of the entity NPTAJ OWES TAXES!, a group that is supposed to be wedded to Christian principles to include Christ's teaching on what is due unto to Caesar is due unto Caesar yet they have the gumption to chastise others.

meanwhile:

The National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica Ltd (NPTAJ) has been left embarrassed after the Registrar of Companies initiated court action to get annual returns that have not been submitted since the organisation was established in 2006.

A bill of $110,000 representing the accumulation of the yearly fees to file the returns plus penalties for not doing so has also been brought against the agency.

"Of course it is embarrassing," Everton Hannam, the president, told The Gleaner after being questioned about the impending Supreme Court trial. The application was filed last year.

Judith Ramlogan, the registrar of companies, said that the her agency was "constrained" to bring the lawsuit because the NPTAJ did not respond to notices sent to it.

Among the explanations given by the parent-teacher group was that the current executive did not know that the agency was expected to file returns.

The NPTAJ is a not-for-profit non-governmental organisation, and the president said: "We were not aware there were some returns that had to be filed annually. We don't pay persons; we don't have that kind of expenses."

"It was also due to the fact," he added, "that there needed to have been some changes with the directorship. A number of the initial directors would have migrated, and so that affected the transferring of information to the present team."

The registrar said that those reasons are the most common among delinquent entities. "When they (companies) register, we indicate to them what they need to do to stay current. That is largely ignored until a matter such as this arises."

The NPTAJ said that it is now pushing to settle the issue out of court, but because the issue is already before the Supreme Court, it will have to appear for the start of the trial to indicate its position to the judge.

... Looking at how to avoid filing returns
Going forward, however, Hannam said that the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica's structures would have to be reviewed. They have to examine how to avoid filing the returns.

But, according to Ramlogan, there's no provision to avoid filing annual returns. "I know the argument is that they don't earn any money, but once you form a company, you are constrained to file annual returns."

The annual return is a document that gives a snapshot of any changes in the company over the year. Ramlogan said that changes are coming, however, to make it easier for making reports if there are no changes. 

Getting a little sick and tired of the hypocritical piety by some yet their integrity cannot stand up to scrutiny, where oh where is the National Integrity Commission Action on this one?

Peace & tolerance

H