Forestry Commission Act does not cater for vice-chairman

Dear Editor,

The Legal Supplement B to the Official Gazette of 30 November 2020 carried a Government Notice setting out the names of the Guyana Forestry Commission Board for November 2020 to November 2021.

As the Government Notice is signed by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, I ask Minister Teixeira to say whether Article 7 of the Guyana Forestry Commission Act has been officially amended and, if yes, where I might find a record of that amendment.

Article 7(2)(a) states: ‘no vice-chairman shall be appointed to the Commission’

The Government Notice of 30 November 2020 names Mr James Singh as Vice-Chairman.

Simultaneously, Mr Singh is using the letterhead of the GFC to send official communications as from the GFC, although he was reported to have retired as from December 2019.

Secondly I note that politicians of both the PPP/C and APNU+AFC have often promised to publish the various investment agreements and licences for extraction of Guyana’s natural resources.  Most of these licences and agreements have not yet been published.  Our membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) requires that these shall be published, and confirmed in the current round of EITI reporting.  I look forward to demonstrated compliance by the current PPP/C administration.

Yours faithfully,

Janette Bulkan