PATENTLY FALSE & TOTALLY INACCURATE

PRIME Minister Samuel Hinds has weighed in on the ongoing issue over the granting of a Permission for Geological and Geographical Survey (PGGS) by Minister Robert Persaud of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.

He said yesterday that the information being circulated by critics of the permission is “patently false”.
Critics of the Permission have charged that its granting was a highly unusual act done by the minister; that it was done clandestinely; that it jeopardised national security; and that the activity was taking place in one of the few remaining pristine forest areas in the country. That area, they say, is ecologically sensitive and should be environmentally protected.
But Prime Minister Hinds debunked those arguments while addressing the parents, graduands and other special invitees at the Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School Graduation Ceremony for 2013, held at the Ogle International Airport, yesterday.
He said assertions that it was an unusual permission were totally inaccurate. He said he knew of at least six PGGSs which had been issued to mining companies in his time as minister responsible for mining. “I think (the figure is) more like a dozen. We have had PGGS issued to Golden Star, which prospected and developed Omai. We have had PGGS issued to a number of other people — people looking for uranium in the Kurupung/Aricheng area; people looking for new bauxite sources, iron, etc!” He stressed: “It is a common feature.”
Noting that there was nothing unlawful about how the PGGS was done, PM Hinds said that bids were invited, and when the group was selected, there was a publication in the Official Gazette, as is the requirement, entitled: “Intention to grant permission” that also invited people to make objections.
There had been no objections.
He also said that the PGGS did not pose a security risk: there is no way that Guyana can afford to station policemen and any other of the arms of authority throughout the length and breadth of the country, the prime minister declared.
“We can only take authorities of the Government to the part of the country that is being developed, since, wherever there is development, it attracts the agencies of the state. We don’t see — I don’t see — any issue at all of any security risk,” he said.
Mr Hinds said the Government is working to continue the growth and development it has initiated over the last 20 years, and that the country is at the point where the exploitation of natural resources in a sustainable way is an important aspect of development.
Guyana has been known from time immemorial to be a country with a lot of potential, but there is no point in potential that is not realised.
The prime minister observed that Guyana is at the very bottom of the ladder in terms of monies in hand, and that is because its potential is not being exploited. “So we have to utilise our potential to improve our economy and our income, and in this case, this granting of the PGGS provides opportunity for further growth of our aviation sector,” he said.
Minister Persaud had signed a permission for a PGGS in about two million hectares in the New River Triangle in favour of a company named Muri Brazil Ventures Inc. on November 7, 2012. The move has been criticised by members of the Guyana Human Rights Association and some political commentators.
Members of Parliament of a Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have signaled their intention to grill the minister about his actions at Thursday’s scheduled sitting of Parliament.

(By Clifford Stanley)