While the opposition APNU+AFC has condemned recent comments made by new Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat of gross mismanagement of the sector—the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) in particular, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira has said that the GFC is in fact bankrupt.
In a video uploaded to the Office of the President’s Facebook page last Friday, Teixeira said that the GFC is unable to pay its staff, and did not pay salaries for the month of July because it did not have money.
After a meeting on Thursday with Heads of the various agencies under the purview of the natural resources ministry, Bharrat’s ministry said in a press release that he received a “grim” report.
The release said that “the agencies provided a grim report which points to gross mismanagement of the sector under the previous administration.”
It added that the GFC is presently unable to pay salaries for July and owes millions to the utility companies. Major restructuring is needed to ensure these agencies function more effectively, the release said. The opposition in a release issued on Friday, however, said that “Bharrat did not bother to inform himself”, opting instead to “rush to play politics” on his very first day on the job.
The opposition accused Bharrat of possessing what it said is no known experience or training in the natural resources sector.
While the APNU+AFC sought to acknowledge that “the GFC has endured a challenging period,” it said that that ministry “is poised to bring to the government coffers almost immediately some US$150M”, which it says has already been approved by the Government of Norway “in recognition of the APNU+AFC coalition government’s sterling management of the forests.”
Norway had said that the money would not be released until the elections result had been declared.
The APNU+AFC release said further that payments of approximately US$130M under the Low Carbon Development Strategy for the lowest deforestation rates are also in train.
In her address declaring the GFC’s bankruptcy, Teixeira said that when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) left office in 2015, the GFC had a $4b surplus, but emphasized that “today it is bankrupted.”
According to her, the Commission is “hundreds of millions of dollars in debt” and said that government will make no apologies for exposing “what is happening in our country and what has happened.”
She questioned how it is that $4b could simply disappear.In its release, the opposition said that Bharrat who it claimed has made no contribution to the sector will stand to “inherit the financial benefits of the work of the GFC during the tenure of the APNU+AFC administration.”
The opposition said that instead of being grateful for this “windfall at the very start of your tenure you hasten to chastise and mislead the public.”
According to its release, the lack of financing for the GFC had been widely known for several months prior to the elections.
The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) it said played a commendable and responsible role during that period, working with the agency to ensure that workers were able to be paid at critical times. The opposition said that public statements at the time recognized the challenges and “were high in praise of the efforts made.”
According to the opposition, the GFC board which expired at the end of February and the management team were open and honest about constraints and were creative in resolving cash flow issues. These issues stemmed largely from the reduction of log exports following the reclaiming of forest concessions from foreign companies, the release said.
Condemning Bharrat’s statements, the APNU+AFC has opined that rather than being vilified and condemned by Bharrat, the GFC Board ought to be congratulated for their efforts while stating that more importantly the staff of the GFC has been outstanding in their personal and collective efforts.
“Rather than recognize their sterling work, the ‘Minister’, on his first day on the job lambasts them in a most uncaring and unconscionable manner. The nation can now expect a tense relationship between the Minister and the Board and the staff for having started off on such an ill-advised and poor footing,” the release said.
The PPP/C was sworn into office two Sundays ago following months of controversy.
