There is no Trevor Atkinson at Port Kaituma

http://guyanaforestry.blogspot.com/2007/03/there-is-no-trevor-atkinson-at-port.html


Atkinson has said in past letters that he is from Port Kaituma but no-one in that community knows such a person.

There is no Trevor Atkinson of Port Kaituma in the Official List of Electors, which is Guyana's national list of eligible voters, and the most recent official census.

The points below are in response to some of the incorrect information in the Atkinson letter.

Atkinson section 2 –
The logging contracts between IWPI and the two Amerindian communities were not negotiated in good faith, and therefore according to Article 55(1)(d) of the Amerindian Act 2006 are void.

Atkinson section 4 –
“Landlording” is the practice in which the legal holder of a forest harvesting concession gives up managerial control and rents it out to another enterprise. This practice is illegal under Forest Regulations 1953, Article 12 –

“No transfer of any lease or timber sales agreement shall be made by any forest officer without the prior approval of the President where such lease or timber sales agreement grants exclusive rights to any person over an area estimated to exceed three thousand acres or is for an unexpired period exceeding three years”.

Landlording is illegal under Condition 13 of Timber Sales Agreements (long-term forest harvesting concessions, up to 25 years) –

“The grantee shall not transfer, sublet, mortgage or otherwise dispose of any interest arising under this agreement except in accordance with the Forest Regulations and any purported disposition made except in accordance with such regulations shall be null and void.”

Landlording is also illegal under Condition 2 of 16 of State Forest Permissions (short-term – 2 years renewable – forest harvesting concessions) -

“This Permit is not transferable without the prior consent in writing of the Commissioner. It may not be assigned or sublet nor may the grantee allow any person to work under it on payment to the Grantee of any consideration whatsoever”.

Landlording can be permitted only with express Presidential authority (the President being the Minister of Forestry, as opposed to the quotidian control by the Minister for Forestry, who is usually also the Minister of Agriculture). There is no evidence that Presidential permission has been requested or granted, according to minutes of the GFC Board of Directors.

Landlording is differentiated from “sprinting” which was a long-standing practice by which concession holders would contract in labour for specific tasks, but without in any way passing on managerial control. “Sprinting” is what is allowed in TSA Condition 14 of Timber Sales Agreements –

“The grantee shall inform the grantor in writing immediately upon engagement of the names of its agents and contractors who are, and the dates when they cease, to carry out its operations in the area”.