President David Granger told reporters that while he was yet to receive a letter registering concerns from the National Trust of Guyana over the repainting of sections of State House, as far as he was aware no law was broken. He was at the time responding to questions over the Administration’s decision to bypass the National Trust and change the colour of the historical building.
The Head of State also registered concerns over the work of the National Trust as it relates to historical buildings.
“I have not received a letter from the National Trust. I am not aware a law has been broken…in fact, National Trust needs to worry about the present decision to ensure that State House is in good repair and does not leak,” he said.
“We have historical buildings all across the country, some of them are collapsing. I weep when I see the condition of City Hall, St George’s Cathedral and I am very concerned about preserving heritage that is why I am repairing State House,” the President added.
However, when contacted, a representative at the Ministry of the Presidency related that Permanent Secretary Abena Moore only received the letter on Tuesday morning and would be responding very soon.
National Trust Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nirvanie Persaud on Tuesday told <<<Guyana Times>>> that the letter was dispatched to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and they were awaiting a response to determine the next step.
When contacted on Wednesday, following the President’s utterance on the issue, Persaud told this publication that she would not be making any further statement on the matter.
The Administration last week came in for criticism as it bypassed the National Trust and began changing the colour of State House from white to green – the dominant colour of the People’s National Congress and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), parties that the President leads.
Since the APNU/Alliance For Change (AFC) coalition came into Government, it has been actively repainting several public buildings using the colour green.
The National Trust of Guyana was established following the passage of the National Trust Act, No 7 of 1972.
The Act “makes provision for the preservation of monuments, sites, places and objects of historic interest or national importance”.
Its website states that the main responsibility of the Trust is the preservation of all monuments in Guyana. Under the National Trust Act, the term monuments includes any building, structure, object or other work of man or of nature ,whether above or below the surface of the land or the floor of the sea within territorial waters of Guyana and any site, cave or excavation.
National Monuments are the vested responsibility of the National Trust and are gazetted as such after approval by Parliament.
