A furtive bid by the government for the transfer of $3b to the housing authority suffered another setback yesterday after the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) received legal advice saying that it couldn’t be directed to move money to another agency.
Since January, the government has been trying to access the $3b from the GGMC for the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) – first by a loan agreement which has been challenged in court – and now by a direct transfer on the basis of Cabinet approval for this at a meeting on Tuesday. Yesterday’s issue of Stabroek News had incorrectly said that Cabinet had approved a $3b loan. What Cabinet did was to approve a $3b transfer. The proposed loan has since been abandoned. The Cabinet decision on Tuesday said that the transfer was to support the “development of Housing Infrastructure projects in Mining Communities and other areas where Miners settlement occur”. In the eye of the controversy, the GGMC sought legal advice from law firm, Cameron and Shepherd.
The advice yesterday authored by Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran noted that Section 31 (1) of the GGMC Act says that the
