Two weeks after a chance encounter between President David Granger and Secretary of the Guyana Scrap Metal Recyclers Association (GSMRA) Michael Benjamin appeared to pave the way for the restoration of the scrap metal trade earlier than the tentative November 30 date given by government, Stabroek Business has learnt that there has, after all, been no change in the road map for the restoration of the trade and that its likely November resumption date remains unchanged.
In the face of this, Benjamin has said, “It is now in excess of a year since the scrap metal sector has been closed. There appears to be insufficient mindfulness of the fact that this has become a humanitarian situation.
“I was encouraged by my recent brief exchange with His Excellency, The President. He had enquired of me as to when last the business houses in the scrap metal sector had been able to do any trading. The question persuaded me that he is apprised of the humanitarian dimension to this matter. It is that consideration, I believe, that ought to help drive this issue.
“I repeat my appeal for this matter to be expedited within a much earlier time frame than November 30.”
Benjamin added that, “At an operating level there still appears to be a lack of urgency associated with restoring the trade.”
Government had closed the trade since June last year effectively choking off exports in what it said was an effort to normalize operations in a sector that had become tainted by metal theft and targeting local utility companies.
Earlier this year, Benjamin had stated that “to stop legitimate businessmen from doing business for more than a year on the grounds of that you are trying to regularize the industry is unreasonable and unacceptable.”
He said that while his conversation with the President two weeks ago during an association demonstration outside the Ministry of the Presidency had persuaded that him that the President was aware of the “real issue” subsequent events now appear to have thrown the situation “back to square one.”
Stabroek Business had reported in its Friday, August 12, issue that the exchange between President Granger and the GMRA Secretary might lead to a fast-tracking of regularizing the sector, paving the way for the reopening of the trade before November 30.
On August 12, however, Business Minister Dominic Gaskin, under whose portfolio the scrap metal trade falls, wrote to Benjamin stating that there is currently “no regulatory body in place to oversee the operation of the trade.”
Benjamin, meanwhile, was also sent a “road map for the reopening of the scrap metal trade” which commits government to putting particular mechanisms in place between July 1 and November 30, the date named on the roadmap for the resumption of the trade. Earlier this week a well-placed source told this newspaper that those initiatives preceding the reopening of the trade to which government had committed itself between July 1 and August 19 had already been completed. These include the fixing of licensing fees for the sector, the design and composition of a monitoring unit for the sector, the drafting of regulations and standard operating procedures for the trade.
While the schedule set out in the road map indicated that Cabinet was to have approved a proposal for the running of the sector on Tuesday, this has been postponed since Cabinet did not meet last Tuesday and will also not be meeting next Tuesday, according to reports.
Benjamin, meanwhile, who admitted that there was the likelihood that “issues of trust” might have arisen between government and the scrap dealers told Stabroek Business that the association was still to see any “hard evidence” of those initiatives listed on the road map as having been taken between July 1 and August 19.
Other key advancements that are yet to be made based on the road map are the drafting of legislation, approval by Cabinet, and passage in the National Assembly. The establishment of a Scrap Metal Unit is also to be realized prior to the resumption of the trade.
