Saying he does not regret leaving his United Nations job to fix a “broken” Guyana Lands & Surveys Commission (GL&SC), now former Commissioner Trevor Benn is not surprised at his sacking but has decried the besmirching of his character in what he believes is an attempt to ensure that persons like him cannot find employment outside of Guyana.
Benn, who was employed as Commissioner under the former APNU+AFC government, was sent his termination letter two weeks ago and his last day as an employee at the Commission will be on February 4th, 2021. His current contract comes to an end in March, 2022 but as is provided for in the contract he was given three months’ notice.
His termination came after his 42 days of leave, which he was sent on in September, expired.
“No I was not surprised,” Benn said yesterday of his termination letter during an interview with Stabroek News.
“One thing I would say—there is not an individual, a single individual who could point their hands in my face to say that they gave me money for any work that I have done in line of me being Commis-sioner. Or that I demanded anything from them. There is not a single individual,” Benn said.
He added that the Commission had a system in place where everyone knew what was happening and therefore he never convened a meeting where he was alone in the room with an individual.
“No, not at all, not at all, I had a wonderful four years,” he said when asked if he regretted taking up the job four years ago. “I worked with some very proactive, intelligent young people who were highly motivated and we made a lot of success stories at Lands and Surveys. Regardless of who says what, Lands and Surveys will never be the same again after interventions that I introduced during my time there,” he continued.
He said that while there will always be regrets, he would not dwell on those but he pointed out that he had a good job at the United Nations which he gave up to become head of the Commission.
“I had my reputation intact up to then…it seems as though now people are looking for ways to discredit and defame and destroy my character,” Benn said, while making reference to reports in other sections of the media of alleged malpractices that were committed while he was heading the Commission.
Benn, who served as the Programme Analyst at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and would have given more than 11 years of service to the UN, said what has been happening is regrettable but added that he understands the political period the country is in.
“It is a period in which anyone who don’t support you must be defamed and destroyed and that’s what this is about. This is not about facts… this is not about finding truth. Anyone who knows Lands and Surveys when I got to Lands and Surveys, it was a broken organisation in every respect,” Benn asserted.
According to Benn, when he took the helm of the Commission, it had no money and they moved it from a non-money making institution to one that began to make a profit and in the process all of its facilities were renovated, new equipment was bought and the staff members were highly motivated.
He said that the Commission got local and international recognition and today once the word sustainable land development is typed in a search engine, Guyana is going to surface, whether it is through work with the World Bank, the United Nations Convention to Combat Deserti-fication (UNCCD) or the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
“Guyana is globally recognised for the contribution it has made over the last four years,” Benn said.
It is because of this recognition that Benn believes he was named as the Chair of the highest global land meeting committee.
In 2019, Benn was elected to chair a high-level United Nations committee, the Committee of the Whole.
Benn, who at the time was representing Guyana at the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Conference to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in New Delhi, India, received the full confidence of more than five thousand delegates attending the high-level meeting, to chair the committee. At the time, the Commission had said it was the first time it was elected to chair the committee.
“The only Guyanese, the only Carib-bean [to chair the committee]. It don’t come by magic,” Benn said.
Benn added that while he was Commissioner a number of new processes were implemented and the Commission partnered with a number of international organisations, including Ordnance Survey (the national mapping agency for Great Britain) and the University of Twente, in the Netherlands to ensure that they could make the land application process more transparent and reduce the time people had to wait. “When I left that was in process. Whether that will continue is left to be seen,” Benn said.
‘Not broken’
Meanwhile, He noted that one of the first things he did when he got there was to hire a Public Relations Officer (PRO) as they wanted people to know what they were doing and for persons to have access to the Commission and for them to report to the public who they served.
The most recent PRO, Royden James, has since been fired by the Commission and Benn questioned the decision. He said all James did was to report the work of the Commission.
“But that’s the reality of where we are at the moment. This is not about finding truth, it is politics, about making sure people like me could never resurface. When they are done with you, no one will want to hire you ‘because you is a thief,’ you are whatever names they calling you all the time and the message they are giving to their members as well to anybody who reads the internet,” Benn said.
Benn advised young persons looking on not to get despondent at what they are witnessing, while adding that his attitude to his situation is that “this too shall pass”.
“Keep doing the right thing, keep doing the right thing, give of your best [and] in whatever area you do be respectful to your superior and study what you have to do and get it done in accordance with the law and you can’t go wrong,” Benn said, before adding, “I would do it all over again, if I had the chance.”
As to his plans for the future, Benn said presently he is enjoying the peace and tranquility of being home with his family. He shared that his last child is still being homeschooled because of the pandemic and he enjoys sitting and working with her.
“What happens after this? There is still time,” he posited.
“But of course when you see your name is popping up like this, what do you expect to happen to people like myself when you apply for a job? There is a rationale to this—to make sure that you cannot access anything outside of Guyana…so that you have to be subservient to the powers that be.
“It is really shameful and it is pathetic but that’s the reality of where we are as a people.
“I am not broken. I expected this; the vendetta, the witch hunting. The African professionals’ derailment is going to continue with or without me and we have to live with it until it can change, until something new happens,” he added.
The decision to send Benn on leave in September came on the heels of government announcing that the powers delegated to the GL&SC by former President David Granger, to allow for the “sanctioning of renting and granting of leases, licences and permission of occupancy of all lands,” had been revoked with immediate effect by President Ali.
That announcement was made on August 7th when the government also announced that all public land deals made by the APNU+AFC administration since December 21st, 2018, when a no-confidence motion was passed against it, are to be reviewed.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in a statement, had indicated that a review of all leases, licences and permissions to occupy public lands, granted since the 21st day of December, 2018, would be conducted.
He had noted that the APNU+AFC coalition government had only “caretaker status” since the passage of the no-confidence motion against it on that date.
At the time, Benn said that he would have to abide by the new president’s decision. “It is the president’s prerogative to give and take these powers. President Granger had given them to me and it seems now that the current president has taken them. He has the right to decide who gets which powers and who he feels can manage the assets best,” he had said.
