Dear Editor,
Recently a very observant Guyanese, Mr Patrick Jackson, brought to the nation’s attention that a ship was being loaded apparently without any customs’ supervision in his letter captioned “Which timber exporters had cargo on the Rong Cheng” (06.12.27). What were clearly visible on the Chinese-registered ship, were logs being loaded from a pontoon.
Mr P Jackson’s questions have failed to get any satisfactory qualitative (types of logs) and/or quantitative (number of logs) response from the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion. This is puzzling in that we just read in Ms. Janette Bulkan’s letter (KN and SN, Jan 17, 2007), that the GFC claims that it has the best national logging tracking system (LTS) in the world.
Assuming that the system is still viable, the GFC should therefore have no problems detailing what logs are being loaded and I cannot understand why the information (the species of logs, number of logs, values of the logs, and who/ where the logs are destined to/for) is a state secret. These are not the secrets of an industrial process.
By not answering the questions, the Commissioner has created further misgivings in the minds of concerned citizens. We expect more openness from the GFC, particularly, in light of the fact that the Commissioner had just made a statement in the media (SN, Nov 17, 2006) that the public should direct questions/concerns to the GFC’s office. Mr. Jackson did as directed – only to be told that the information is not available to the public!
This is a democracy, why should such information not be made public? Why is the GFC so afraid of public oversight? Dr C Jagan (1994) had implored the public to be involved: “I want to assure you that you must be part and parcel of the policing apparatus. We don’t have enough money or resources in the Geology and Mines Commis-sion or personnel in the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion. We don’t have enough vehicles; we don’t have boats to police the vast interior. I say today
