THE Ministry of Natural Resources on Friday refuted statements attributed to trade unionist Lincoln Lewis that approximately 70 workers of Barama Company Limited (Barama), a logging company, have been “sent home” as a result of the non-renewal of their contracts.Stabroek Business in its Friday, September 2, 2016 edition said that with the impending expiration of Barama’s five-year contract in October this year, and no indication of renewal of same, hundreds of local workers of the company are likely to be laid off.

“Lewis, who visited the Barama Land of Canaan offices on Tuesday where he engaged both management and workers, disclosed to this newspaper that with effect from yesterday, approximately 70 Guyanese employees were retrenched,” Stabroek Business reported.

Lewis reportedly told that newspaper that based on his exchange with officials of the company, government had not provided recent information on renewal of the company’s contract. But the Ministry of Natural Resources maintains that the information published by the Stabroek News amounts to misinformation.

In a statement to the media, the ministry said, “The facts are that the Barama Co Ltd has been continuously informing the Ministry of the Natural Resources and the Guyana Forestry Commission about its loss of market share in Asia which is affecting its profitability, and challenges experienced by bad weather conditions. The Ministry of Natural Resources rejects any assertion that the loss of jobs is tied to the renewal of Barama’s contract and calls on the company to set the record straight.”

Additionally, the Ministry of Natural Resources said that at the request of Barama for its contract to be renewed with the government last year, Cabinet gave its ‘no objection’ to continuing the relationship with the logging company, but called for the establishment of a task force to examine the request.

“This task force was deemed necessary given the rapacious activities of some foreign companies operating in the forests of Guyana, and some not-so- positive observations that had been expressed about Barama in particular.”

The task force comprised representatives of the Ministries of Business, Natural Resources, Public Infrastructure and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Guyana Forestry Commission and a Legal Consultant.

The task force met on several occasions and visited the Barama operations at Buckhall, Essequibo. Subsequent to those meetings, the legal consultant began reviewing the existing contract, forest concessions, and tax incentives previously enjoyed by the company, while other members of the team examined critical issues such as workers’ rights, value-added operations and environmental management practices, to name a few. The Task Force’s final report is to be submitted to Cabinet for review and approval before September 30.