THE recently appointed Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, met with the Heads of the various agencies under the purview of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) on Thursday.

The meeting provided an opportunity for the new minister to be updated with the current state of operation of the various agencies and for the various agencies to move forward with effiency under his stewardship

The agencies provided a grim report which points to gross mismanagement of the sector under the previous administration.
The Guyana Forestry Commission is reporting that is unable to pay salaries for July and owes millions to the utility companies. Major restructuring is needed to ensure these agencies function in a more effective manner.

The previous administration had set up a task force to restructure the ministry.
The task force’s mandate was to look into reorganising the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) in light of Guyana’s national objective of moving towards a ‘green’ economy.
“Further, mandate has included, but will not be limited to, an examination and evaluation of current job descriptions and performance standards, personnel procedures, conditions of employment and appointment, wages and salary structures and payroll administration,” the release says, and that “it will further aim at improving the efficient performance and effective management of the commission by identifying training and development opportunities for staff.

Meanwhile, the previous administration had accused the now government of a total mismanagement of the Forestry Commission back in 2014.
In a statement, the now opposition accused the current government of removing over 1.3 billion dollars from the GFC for several projects inclusive of the Marriott Hotel , Clico , Iwokrama and a building constructed on High Street costing $600 million.

The building was previously occupied by the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation, now the National Communications Network.