Another high level forestry officer sent home • GFC refuses to accept resignation

Another high level forestry officer sent home • GFC refuses to accept
resignation
Kaieteur News, 6 December 2007
The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) is refusing to accept the
resignation of an Assistant Commissioner who was sent on special leave
earlier this week amidst accusations of wrongdoing.

A senior forestry official confirmed that the Assistant Commissioner
was under watch for some time now.

According to reports, the Assistant Commissioner allegedly, among other
things, “fraternised” with a logging company that was under
investigation.

The Assistant Commissioner, who is a key ground staff in GFC, was
scheduled to appear before a Staff Welfare Committee to answer
questions, the forestry source disclosed yesterday.

“We will not be accepting his resignation since the charges against him
are quite serious. He cannot pre-empt a possible dismissal by
resigning.”

It was disclosed that the Assistant Commissioner, as part of his
duties, would issue fines to loggers for breaches of GFC regulations.
Breaches, in the first instance, would attract one-sixth of the market
value of the harvested logs.

However, the Assistant Commissioner was said to have “manipulated” the
market value of logs after a number of breaches by timber companies
were discovered. This in effect allowed the companies to pay a far
lower fine than was applicable.

This latest action by GFC follows closely on that taken against another
Assistant Commissioner, who was sent on special leave in July and then
fired in September for allegedly manipulating regulations imposed by
the forestry monitoring body.

Since then, several other GFC staffers have been fired for allegedly
accepting bribes in an industry where there are widespread perceptions
of deep-rooted corruption among officials.

According to the source, this latest disciplinary action is evidence of
the “tightening of investigations” into irregular practices in the
forestry sector, something Government is intent on stamping out.

The focus on Guyana 's forest sector has taken increased prominence in
light of Guyana 's promise to use its expanse of forest cover to fight
the effects of climate change.

• President Bharrat Jagdeo has promised to “deploy” Guyana 's forest
in this fight, but he contended that this country has to be properly
compensated.