Local regulatory and enforcement bodies must fashion “a collective strategy” to ensure that the country’s environmental and workplace safety laws are efficiently and effectively enforced ahead of the anticipated arrival here of greater numbers of foreign investors seeking to do business with the country in areas related to the country’s emerging oil and gas sector, General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis has told the Stabroek Business.
In the second part of an extended recent interview, Lewis said that he was concerned that “the enforcement mechanisms for guarding against environmental transgressions and the health and safety of workers might not be strong enough to protect ourselves once we find ourselves with greater numbers of entities wishing to do business with Guyana.” And according to Lewis’ experience, “the behaviour of foreign companies already working in Guyana ought to serve as a signal that we cannot assume that some of those who are still to come will not seek to go down the same road. Our laws, our institutions and our enforcement capabilities must be ready to deal with that,” Lewis told the Stabroek Business.
