I wish to refer to an article in the Stabroek News under the caption: “Gov’t has substantially failed to implement forest saving agreement with Norway, says Civil Society members” in its issue of Monday, March 28. Also in the Kaieteur News under the caption “Group wants Norway to delay payment to Guyana” in its issue of Monday, March 28. Kindly allow me to raise the following points:
1. The devil is at work. The devil is like a roaring lion seeking to only destroy. The so-called civil society grouping that wrote to Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development calling for a delay in payments of the money under the MOU signed between Guyana and Norway is the devil at work.
2. The Stabroek News called this grouping a “civil society body’, while the Kaieteur News referred to the grouping as merely “The group.” Both of the independent dailies are wrong. The ‘body’ is a loose grouping and it is not a ‘civil society group’ since the group is saddled with opposition politicians and environmentalists with political objectives.
3. The fact that global Climate Change is occurring and has catastrophic effects, this loose grouping of so-called environmentalists and politicians are hell bent on sabotaging the genuine partnership between Norway and Guyana.
4. This political grouping masquerading as a ‘civil society body’ and under the leadership of Janette Bulkan wants the LCDS to fail and is working towards this hideous cause for cheap political mileage for the upcoming general elections. This is what Norway needs to know.
5. A civil society body does not have politicians in its membership and the ‘civil society body’ that wrote to Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development to delay payment for Guyana’s LCDS is therefore not qualified to be a civil society body since it has a political membership which is affiliated to the Alliance for Change (AFC) political party. This is what Norway needs to know.
6. The fact that Janette Bulkan’s group is a political grouping, it can therefore in no way represent the interests of civil society in Guyana.
7. Given that Janette Bulkan’s political grouping comprises  ‘environmentalists’. What really is their justification for calling for a delay in payments for Guyana’s LCDS from Norway, when they claim to be believers in Forest Preservation?
8. The call by Janette Bulkan’s political grouping for a delay in payments under the MOU signed between Guyana and Norway for forest preservation in November 2009 is therefore definitely political, since Guyana’s deforestation rate is below 0.45 per cent. So what is the big hullabaloo about by Bulkan’s political clique claiming to be a civil society body?
9. It appears that Bulkan’s political clique calling itself ‘civil society’ wants to own and control the Norwegian funds for Guyana’s forest protection scheme, since it wrongly accuses the government of Guyana of secrecy and corruption when they lack evidence to back their claims.
10. What is even more blatant by this anti-national and unpatriotic political clique lead by Bulkan is that they are going against Amerindians receiving titles to their lands as well as Amerindian land demarcations and extensions. What manner of ‘civil society body’ is this? Their wicked call to delay funds from Norway will therefore definitely hurt Guyana’s Indigenous peoples who are presently concerned about the extremely long delay in the releasing of these funds for their participation in Guyana’s LCDS.
11. Norway needs to know that Guyana’s indigenous peoples are concerned over the actions of so-called civil society groups that seek to destroy Guyana’s LCDS and deprive them of resources for their development while they participate in the LCDS.