–after leaving $4B in ‘the kitty’

AS the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) continues to struggle to pay its staff and other debts, Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira, is questioning how the Commission could have descended to its state of bankruptcy, when it had a surplus of $4 billion at the end of 2015.
During a media briefing last Friday, Teixeira, reveal that the GFC had not paid its staff for the month of July. The Commission has approximately 400 staff members, and faced similar issues since last year April.

Teixeira said however, that was not the case when the APNU+AFC took over government in 2015
“When we left office in 2015 the GFC had $4 billion surplus, today it is bankrupt… it cannot pay the staff… it did not pay the staff in July because it did not have money. There’s hundreds of millions of dollars in debt… How could $4 billion disappear in a Ministry which brings in revenue all the time?” she questioned.
The Forestry Commission is responsible for the administration and management of all State Forest land, and is supposed to be a semi-autonomous government agency, meaning it generates its own income.

Teixeira’s declarations came one day after newly appointed Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat met with heads of agencies in the natural resources sector.
The agencies provided a grim report which points to gross mismanagement of the sector under the previous administration, and the Minister is expected to meet with the management team and staff of these agencies shortly. Included in those in attendance was Commissioner (Ag) of the Guyana Forestry Commission Gavin Agard.

The GFC has been facing financial woes for some time now, notwithstanding last year the government half-year economic report showing that there had been upward movement in the forestry subsector. The estimated growth was 7.8 per cent above the level achieved at the end of June 2018, making growth in the first half of 2019 8.5 per cent.
However, last year former GFC Chairperson, Jocelyn Dow had revealed that the GFC was falling short by up to $1B annually to effectively carry out its function. This was largely due to the falling exports of logs compounded by increased activities at the Commission, relating to the conservation efforts brought on by the Norway US$250M deal to conserve the forests.

The GFC falls under the purview of the MNR, which last year April had established a Task Force to look into the reorganizing and restructuring of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). The outcome of this task force was never made known.
Tapping into the Norwegian Fund and the possible sale of the High Street (former Radio Station) building are among the options that were being considered as solutions to the financial challenges facing the Commission.

Last year when the Commission’s financial standing was revealed, after the Commission was struggled to pay staffers, blame for the situation was attributed on a decision that was taken to have the GFC invest $600 million in the construction of the still unoccupied High and Princes Streets property, that formerly housed the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).

The property was constructed in 2007, but had been earmarked to be torn down since it was structurally unsound.
President Irfaan Ali, however last year, in a different section of the media, had noted that the woes of the Commission were as “a direct result of the contraction of the industry” as a consequence of the previous administrations actions.
The GFC is among a list of government agencies that the President has since ordered forensic audits for, after the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) won the March 2 elections and government changed hands.