Minister of State Joseph Harmon has had environmental issues officially added to his portfolio.
A December 14, 2016 extraordinary gazette noted that Harmon’s duties and responsibilities had been amended. However, the duties and responsibilities listed are the same as those listed in the January 18, 2016 gazette.
Speaking with Stabroek News at Public Buildings last evening Harmon explained that there was a mistake in the gazette.
“There are some duties missing, there should have been included the responsibility for environmental issues and agencies such as the Guyana Forestry Commission,” he said.
Harmon had announced in July that Cabinet had decided to remove environment matters from under the Ministry of Natural Resources since government believed that not only are the duties of both sectors taxing on Minister Raphael Trotman but they may pose a potential conflict.
“The extractive sector and the sector that is responsible for monitoring or supervising the extractive sector…you put them together is in the wrong place. We believe (it) is not a right fit,” Harmon had told reporters at a post-cabinet press briefing.
At the time he stressed that this was not yet a reality but an intention. According to the gazette these duties became Harmon’s on September 1, 2016.
They have been added to the responsibility he already holds for Cabinet matters, Defence and Territorial Integrity, Civil Defence, Land Titling, Bauxite Development Policy, Organisation and Administration of the Public Service, Public Service Personnel Management, Public Service Training, Scholarships, Gaming Authority, Citzenship issues, registrar of births and deaths and climate change.
In terms of ministries and departments, Harmon is responsible for the Ministry of the Presidency, Cabinet Office, Department of Defence, Guyana Defence Force, Joint Intelligence Coordinating Centre, Central Intelligence Committee, Regional Intelligence Committees, Civil Defence Commission, Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and Lands Registry, Department of the Public Service, Personnel Division, Training Division, Department of Citizenship, Registration, Immigration and Naturalisation, General Registrar’s Office, Advisory Body on Sciences and Technology and the Institute of Applied Science and Technology.
