Guyanese Environment and Democracy Advocate, Simone Mangal-Joly has written another open letter to President Irfaan Ali on the composition of the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) and also drew parallels with the attempt in 2020 to overturn the election results.
“Despite requests for your attention to the matter of independence of the EAB, you have appointed a Board comprised entirely of government employees, two of whom have indisputable “direct” and “indirect” conflicts of interest. This is prohibited under the Environmental Protection Act (EPAct):
Third Schedule, Environmental Assessment Board, which states plainly that: “Any member of the Board who has any interest directly or indirectly, in any matter before the Board – (a) Shall disclose the nature of his interest to the Board, and (b) shall not take part in any deliberation or decisions of the Board with respect to that matter,” the letter reminded.
Mangal-Joly noted that despite public complaints, the newly appointed members of the EAB rather than disclosing their conflicts of interest and recusing themselves, have proceeded with scheduling the public hearing for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) waiver for the Gas to Energy project’s 300 MW Power Plant on March 22. She also lamented the disallowal of the use of the Zoom virtual platform for public hearings. “I would also like to draw your attention to their decision to obstruct public access by disallowing the use of the virtual Zoom platform for public hearings.” She posited that this decision, which she feels reverses the established good governance norm of the previous EAB, will have the effect of preventing access for communities from across the country as well as citizens abroad, from participating in hearings, “effectively silencing their voices.”
The letter sought to establish a parallel between the situation involving the EAB and the attempts made in 2020 to usurp the democratic process. “I must say that your Government’s actions on this matter to date brings back chilling memories of what many in our nation, including yourself and members of your Party, would recount as the A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) attempt to capture The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) through the installation of Justice (James) Patterson as bChairman, and subsequent efforts to rig the results of the 2020 National and Regional Elections.” The letter went on to say, “Even though the scope and scale are different, your government’s actions with respect to the EAB appears to be a similar assault on a legal instrument of democracy. In this case, participatory democracy.”
As such, the environment advocate yet again, appealed to the President, “… to desist from this path not only for the obvious reasons of rule of law, democratic governance, and credibility of your own Government, but also because fair and thorough environmental assessments are crucial for safeguarding our health and natural resources and identifying and mitigating risks to development projects.” The writer reminded the Head of State that as both President and Minister of Environment, it was his duty, and no less, also his pride, to ensure that all public institutions and bodies tasked with responsibilities under the Environmental Protection Act operate in a lawful, fair, competent, and inclusive manner.
She made another impassioned plea for a professional EAB, free from conflicts of interest. “Therefore, I implore you to void the current appointments and instead appoint an EAB free from conflicts of interests, one with adequate non-governmental representation, experts with proven track record in environmental protection and management, and gender balance.”
In her letter dated March 10, 2023 to the President, Mangal-Joly referred to Guyana’s lack of an independent EAB, while noting, “… It is disappointing that rather than address the issues of conflicts of interest with government duties, you have doubled down and appointed a board with two of three members having direct conflicts of interest with their government duties. In addition, in a step backwards, the board is now entirely lacking any members with expertise in environmental protection, and it continues to lack non-governmental representation.” In view of her reasoning, she asked, “How is this justifiable when Guyana has capable professional expertise in academia and elsewhere?”
The letter pointed out that the Government of Guyana, Official Gazette, Legal Supplement B, of February10, 2023, had named a three-member EAB. Two of them, it stated, namely Dr Mahender Sharma, and Joslyn McKenzie, have duties central to the promotion of oil and gas and associated energy projects. And the third member, Dr Garvin Cummings, is a senior staff member of the Ministry of Agriculture who heads up the Hydro Met division.
Mangal-Joly told the president, “As you are aware, since the advent of oil production in Guyana, most of the matters brought before the EAB have had to do with projects directly related to areas within Dr Sharma’s and McKenzie’s remit.” She highlighted that Dr Sharma, named Chair of the EAB, is also the Head of the Guyana Energy Agency, which is charged with overseeing the development of all types of energy projects in Guyana, including fossil fuel-based projects. He was previously Chairman and is currently a Director of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL). Meanwhile, McKenzie is the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources, with this ministry having chief responsibility for promoting petroleum development, and the publicly funded US$2 billion-plus Gas-to-Energy project.
She pointed out that their employment situation and government duties result in an “obvious” lack of separation of powers with a “high” probability of conflict of interest in matters that come before the EAB. She contended that this unfortunate situation is currently unfolding in the matter of objections to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to waive an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the 300MW Natural Gas Power Plant Project, which is an essential part of the Gas-to-Energy project.
