Dear Editor,
I am pleased that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has vouchsafed the results of tests on the water quality of the affected part of the Haieka River and has volunteered information on the possible investigation into fish deaths in other communities. It already augurs well for the new Ministry of the Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE) that the EPA can answer questions directed to the Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
I am therefore encouraged to offer the following advice
1. That there is apparently no mining upriver should not have prevented the testing for mercury. Only young and inexperienced people living sheltered lives on the coast could think to sustain a claim that there is no mining in any given area. Rogue miners exist with all that attends them. Biochemical testing exists so that pronouncements of water quality can be made, independent of the registration or even of the observation of mining. Balancing what is seen, whether on site or on paper, with the results of planned testing is called environmental accounting.
2. Every measurement is valid for a time. Therefore the time of testing must be mentioned and the schedule for subsequent tests. Records must be made and signed by accountable public officers.
3. This kind of information must be readily available to the enquiring citizen. Information from former times used to (and should still) be kept in the libraries of the GGMC and the Hydromet, and was often published in Caribbean, American and other international journals. This good practice should be restored and upgraded to capture the new parameters necessary for monitoring and managing the environment. Does the EPA also have such a library? And of course, much should be made available online, beginning with current operations and data.
4. There is good cause for the MoNRE to coordinate the data so that it can be made available quickly to citizens in order to made decisions on their livelihoods, and to experts so as to better advise organizations like the Civil Defence Commission.
But for certain inherited policies and problems in the sugar industry, the new Minister of NRE could have been credited with improving the infrastructure of much of his former ministry. May he bring his energies to establish a reputably competent and transparent new ministry.
On a more general level, I should like to advise the new parliament to treat as a priority legislation to compel the appointment of an Ombudsman, who could compel public officers to do their duty to the public over their fear of their respective minister. If necessary I would volunteer to help draft the legislation as it relates to technical public offices.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai