Dear Editor,
Please allow me the opportunity to respond to a letter in your newspaper headlined, ‘Move by GLSC for hydrographic surveying has political, strategic implications’ (SN: 8/6/2019).
It is not usual for me to respond to letters in the press. Since I assumed duties as Commissioner/CEO of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) three years ago, I took the position to allow my actions to speak for me and obviously, they have. The letter writer is clear evidence. Notwithstanding, his political mind would not allow him to be open or fair-minded in his views.
His jaundiced views and obviously his government’s approach to governance pre-2015 is what resulted in the chaos that has besieged every government institution, especially the GLSC.
It is clear to me that his primary view is to sow seeds of discord and confusion between and among the three agencies named in his letter.
The letter writer ought to know that the GLSC is a constitutional agency with mandated functions. What he is however highlighting, is his government’s haphazard approach to governance in which they created laws and structures without much thought that has resulted in confusion in the way various sectors are governed. Laws were created without repealing others and functions were assigned that were already part of the mandate of other institutions. As a result, chaos reigned!
What I, and many of my colleagues in the public sector have had to do is start from scratch. It is no secret that when the GLSC came into being in 2001, his government presided over the burning of historical records, because in their misguided view, the documents, maps, plans and files dating back to the 17th century were garbage. Yet the gentleman is assigning motives to the hiring of a Historian at this important agency.
As if this was not bad enough, most of the functions assigned to the commission during his government’s time in office were grossly neglected. Of significance is national mapping, surveying, land policy and planning as well as effective land administration.
Does this gentleman, my dear friend, really have a problem with the commission resolving itself to ensure that the government and people of Guyana tangibly and significantly benefit from the national patrimony? Does he expect me to continue to preside over such a broken system which was inherited without implementing appropriate solutions? I think not.
Yours faithfully,
Trevor L. Benn
