– demands apology from Trotman
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has repeated calls for a suspension of the historic Guyana-Norway
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo
partnership until Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman apologises for his damning statements or until an international probe is launched into his allegations against the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration.
Trotman told the National Assembly during the Budget debate that the previous Government had given away all of the nation’s productive forest and there was basically nothing left.
“We were met with an alarming situation where we discovered that 100 per cent or all of our productive forest was allocated by the past Government,” the Minister stated.
The PPP/C has since declared that the Minister was lying, stating that he should immediately retract his comments. “They must apologise to the people of Guyana,” the Party had demanded.
In fact, PPP/C Chief Whip Gail Teixeira had written to the Norwegian Government expressing the Party’s concerns over Trotman’s wild statements.
During a recent press conference at Freedom House, Jagdeo resurrected the issue and once again called on the Norwegians to suspend all payments to Guyana.
“Because US$15 million GRIF [Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund] payments is budgeted in this year’s budget, money that APNU (A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change) did not support, they were critical of and they want to spend now,” he stated.
The PPP/C had previously explained that about seven million hectares of forest have been allocated for concessions, less than 38 per cent of Guyana’s forest or about 55 per cent of the State forest estate. Of the seven million hectares, about five million hectares were allocated through large concessions. Of those five million hectares, about 2.8 million hectares of large concessions were allocated by PPP/C Government between 1992 and 2015, and about half of the large concessions were issued by the People’s National Congress (PNC) Government before 1992, including the current largest concession for Barama at 1.7 million hectares.
In summary, the past Government allocated approximately 15 per cent of Guyana’s forest to large concessions, about the same as the PNC Government. To date, 5.5 million hectares, or close to half the State forest estate, remains unallocated.
Meanwhile, the Party said the continued “attacks” on the previous Administration’s management of the forest were becoming worrisome.
