The government has scrapped its agreement with Natural Globe Guyana Inc for the construction of a solid waste recycling plant over concerns highlighted in the press about the developer, who admitted that his firm had only ever built a prototype of the proposed US$30 million facility.
The announcement was made yesterday by Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon, who told reporters that Cabinet made the decision during a meeting on Tuesday to withdraw the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the company. The move is an about face for Cabinet, which had given its no-objection to the tendering of the project to Natural Globe Guyana Inc in the first place.
“Cabinet had decided to withdraw its execution of the [MoU] with the firm… thus forestalling the planned move to go invest in the feasibility study prior to the execution of an investment agreement with the firm,” Luncheon told reporters.
Subsequent to the signing of the MoU, Stabroek News reported a number of discrepancies surrounding Natural Globe Guyana Inc’s CEO, Mohammed Osman. Among the revelations was the fact that his company had only ever built a prototype of the facility he would have been required to build under the MoU. He has also been accused of misrepresenting Andriana Webster, daughter of Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster, as one of the primary investors of the project.
Asked why the government did not pick up the discrepancies, Luncheon said the due diligence done ahead of the MoU was not very thorough, since the agreement was not for the execution of the project. As a result, he said, specific areas were inadequately attended to and this reality was pointed out by the media.
Stabroek News contacted Osman yesterday for a comment on the withdrawal but he declined to comment, saying that he plans to hold a press conference very soon at which “everything will be revealed”.
The MoU was signed last Monday and Osman had subsequently admitted to Stabroek News that his firm has only ever constructed a prototype of the recycling plant it would have been required to build for Guyana under the MoU. There were also questions as to why the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development was allowed to handle the tendering of this project instead of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
The Local Government Ministry had defended the selection of Natural Globe Guyana from a list of interested firms because it “proposed a method of operation that did not contain any monetary impact on the state,” and was overall the “outstanding agency after satisfactorily meeting the criteria outlined.”
The ministry was adamant that it had made the right decision and last Thursday it lashed out at the media for their “misinformed and mischievous statements”. In a statement, the ministry argued that the questions being asked by the media were to confuse and communicate incorrect messages to the public on the recent signing of the MoU for the establishment of the plant.
The ministry also said that Osman was a Vice President at Mogford Enterprise Inc, a firm which specialises in recycling and with which Natural Globe Guyana Inc has partnered. He was also described as a Technical Adviser to Tadger’s Fuel Economy Solutions, where he provides advice on the use of environmentally friendly products. However, online searches turned up no connection between Osman and any of these Canada-based firms.
Speaking to Stabroek News last week, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development Collin Croal said that over a period of time a number of firms had sent in proposals and expressions of interest for building and operating such facilities. He said that these expressions of interest went to the Office of the President and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Croal said that after considering the expressions of interest, his ministry compiled them and made a presentation to Cabinet, following an evaluation which determined that this company had the best proposal. He said too that Cabinet then gave the go ahead for the inking of an MoU with the company. He added that an evaluation of this company was followed by a due diligence and it was determined that the company was fit and proper to engage with government on the setting up of the facility.
Osman had also said that the company was still to get the land for the operation and was yet to make a formal application. Croal had said the company requested three sites on the East Coast and two on the East Bank. A central location at a site, to house both a recycling and manufacturing facility, was yet to be determined. According to Croal, the government had been going through the process with the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission to identify land suitable for the operation of the plant and its satellite stations on the East Coast and East Bank Demerara.
Even as the ministry sought to clarify the situation, Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster was forced to weigh-in on the matter after an article in last Friday’s edition of the Kaieteur News said that her daughter, Andriana Webster, had been identified by Osman as one of the project’s main investors, being responsible for half of the estimated US$30 million project cost.
During a press briefing last Friday, the minister said the allegations in the article were not true. “The article is intended to expose me, personally, my office as a minister of government and the Government of Guyana (GoG) to perpetuate the perception of conflict of interest and corruption on my part and that of the GoG,” the minister said.
Webster said that her daughter was not an investor in the project, and read a letter written by her daughter which expressed the same position. The minister explained that Andriana is a director at the Canada-based Natural Globe Inc, and an Information Technology consultant for Mogford Enterprises but was not providing any part of the investment funds as was claimed.
When Kaieteur News reporters told the minister that Osman was recorded making the claim, she said that if this was true she would instruct her daughter accordingly. Osman has since denied that he ever made such a comment. Yesterday he told Stabroek News that he was falsely accused by Kaieteur News and that he never said Andriana was responsible for contributing US$15 million towards the project.
The signing of the MoU between the government and Natural Globe Guyana Inc also raised questions after Michael Mosgrove, President of the Ontario-based Panther Recycling Corporation, revealed that his company recently incorporated the name Natural Globe Inc., and therefore owns the use of the name.
Speaking to Stabroek News after learning of the MoU signing, Mosgrove said “the minister’s office now has a serious issue since the MoU was not signed in good faith,” and added that Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud should throw out the MoU. He had also said that if Osman, in the future, ever states that he represents Natural Globe Inc “he is going to find himself in serious hot water.”
