PULL QUOTE: ‘Let Kaieteur News bring one, only one, person to say that they received money and who they received the money from. We did not ask the Chinese for anything…there was no bribery because there was no need for it,’ Bynoe
REGION 10 (Upper Demerara/ Upper Bebrice) Agriculture and Forestry Producers Association consultant, Mr. Phillip Bynoe yesterday emphatically dismissed the allegation that loggers were paid $10,000 each to support Chinese investor Bai Shan Lin which was reported in the Kaieteur News.

An article headlined ‘Logging scandal…Kwakwani residents claim loggers paid to back Bai Shan Lin’ claimed that: “Reports are that money was also paid for the persons to attend the press conference.”
Bynoe, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, challenged the newspaper to present “only one” person who received any money from the Chinese company.
“Let Kaieteur News bring one, only one, person to say that they received money and who they received the money from,” he said.
The consultant explained that the only cost that was footed on behalf of the persons at the Umana Yana was the transportation costs, which was covered in part by himself, the Linden Association of Loggers, contributions from the Aroraima and Kwakwani communities.
“We did not ask the Chinese for anything…there was no bribery because there was no need for it,” he said.
Bynoe made it clear that the forestry sector stakeholders gathered on Tuesday at the Umana Yana under one voice in their numbers to defend their position and express their concerns with the anti-investment stance taken by the local daily.
“We do not have to bribe people. People in the logging industry have struggled for many years and they know how to represent their interests.” The people who were at that session are serious people who know what they are about,” he said.
Tuesday’s session was a public meeting of loggers drawn from ten major organisations in Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice), among them the Maria Elizabeth Three Friends Small Loggers Association; the Coomacka Forest Producers and Agricultural Association; the Linden Agriculture & Forest Producers Association; the Blueberry Hill Small Loggers Association; the Ituni Natural Resources Organisation; the Kwakwani Natural Resources Organisation; the Rockstone Small Loggers Association; the Region No. 10 AFPA; the Upper Berbice Forest Producers Association; MAC Enterprise; and the Araima Natural Resource Organisation.

SHIFTED FOCUS
According to Bynoe, the Kaieteur News seems to have shifted its focus from the “timber industry and the so called wrong doings of the Guyana Forestry Commission” to shallow and baseless assertions.
He surmised too that Kaieteur News seem to be of the opinion that “Phillip Bynoe sells newspapers” and have decided that their shifted focus should include putting the spotlight on him.
“Phillip Bynoe, former treason accused, sells newspapers, it would seem,” he said, referring to the Kaieteur News’ persistent reference to his past involvement with the law on a treason charge.
The consultant highlighted the fact that the local daily continues to ignore the facts as they are presented, exhibiting a preference for falsehoods.
He said: “After the lies that were printed by the Kaieteur News were exposed by Mr. James Singh, at that now famous two hour press conference, the newspaper seems not to know how to counter what are clear facts.”
Bynoe added that, instead, the local daily has changed its story because its “lies are being confronted and refuted” by Government agencies, as well as the men and women on the ground.
“The Kaieteur News is telling lie after lie, which they cannot substantiate. They are digging a deeper hole…if they truly are a patriotic newspaper and their mission is truly an altruistic one, in the interest of Guyana and Guyanese, they will stop telling lies that damage the lives of the small man on the ground,” he said.
Bynoe made it clear that the people of Region 10 who are involved in the industry are vigilant and will remain so.
“The people are vigilant and as beneficiaries of a major investment by the Chinese, they will continue to advance their interest and maximise on the opportunities stemming from that investment…Kaieteur News should desist from focusing on lies and use their newspaper to foster development,” he said.
The operations of Chinese logging company, Bai Shan Lin (BSL), has been targeted by Kaieteur News for the past week now; however, while aspersions continue to be hurled about, Commissioner of the Guyana Forest Commission (GFC), James Singh has since outlined the conditions under which BSL received joint ventures for 274,000 hectares of forest and refuted claims of wrong-doings by the GFC, as the forestry sector’s oversight body.