I read in the Stabroek News (Sat Aug 16th, 2014) where the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI) wants the Government to halt the operations of the Chinese Company Bai Shan Lin and the Indian Company Vaitarna in the wake of reports in the press on their Logging activities.Please allow me to state the following:

1.      The fact of the matter is that TIGI is known to be misled by the Opposition sections of the Press and its unjustified position on Bai Shan Lin and Vaitarna is sound evidence of this because their news is based on misinformation and, more so, lies. Let me say shame on TIGI!
2.      Before arriving at its position on Bai Shan Lin and Vaitarna, did TIGI as a body that claims to promote transparency in Guyana carry out verifications with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC)? My information is that TIGI did not, which in my humble view it is a political front for the Opposition in Guyana and is masquerading as an anti-corruption agency.
3.      But if TIGI claims to be a body promoting transparency in Guyana and is inclined towards the political opposition how can its work be considered credible and professional? In this regard it is my opinion that TIGI needs to be cleansed by its international parent body.
4.      By the way, who are the principals of TIGI? I know of one, Anand Goolsarran, who seems to be its chief spokesperson. Goolsarran was an Auditor-General under the illegal PNC Government and is now actively engaged in criticizing, if not condemning Government’s accounting and accounting systems in the public domain, calling for investigations. The question is, did Goolsarran, when he was Auditor-General, ever publicly call for investigations into the PNC’s illegal accounting systems? And can he say for what year/s he provided Auditor-General reports under his illegal PNC Government prior to 1992 when Guyana was in a state of economic bankruptcy and corruption? Answer these questions, Goolsarran.
5.      Goolsarran is clearly an anti-Government of Guyana protagonist and in this regard TIGI will not be able to arrive at credible, responsible and professional decision-making, but more so decision-making that is politically unprejudiced and TIGI’s call for stopping the operations of Bai Shan Lin and Vaitarna without validated reasons is just a simple example.

Peter Persaud