Forestry commission bill for debate today

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56525401

Stabroek News
Thursday, July 26th 2007

The National Assembly will today debate the Guyana Forestry Commission
(GFC) Bill and consider motions for the continuation of the examination
of the Disciplined Forces Commission report and the setting up of a
Standing Committee on National Security.

The GFC bill seeks to repeal and replace the Guyana Forestry Commission
Act 1979 and to re-establish the Guyana Forestry Commission and provide
for incidental matters.

According to the bill, the commission will be the same body corporate
as the former commission and its purpose will be to encourage the
development and growth of forestry in Guyana on a sustainable basis.

A number of concerns about the new piece of legislation have been
pointed out. One stakeholder said that Article 13, which deals with
privileged information, effectively places a gag order which would
prevent or at least severely hamper analyses like the ones carried in
this newspaper. The source said that this is not in consonance with the
proposed Freedom of Information Act or Article 13 of the Constitution.

The source said that Article 27 of the new Bill, Offences and Penalties
is an entirely new section from the old Act and it places a gag order
on all employees and GFC Board members related to Article 13 of the
Bill, carrying with it significant penalties of imprisonment and fines.

The commission will be required to keep proper financial records and
submit to the minister audited accounts for each financial year,
together with an annual report on its activities.

The commission will be allowed to hire employees and engage consultants
and other advisers, but restrictions are placed on commercial
operations. The commission will be allowed at any time to appoint a
committee to examine and report on any matter connected with any of its
functions.

The commission may, with the consent of the minister, enter into
commercial operations with respect to intellectual property developed
in connection with or resulting from the exercise of any of its
functions or any land or building of the commission.

But the source is concerned over Article 16: Reserve Fund which states
that the GFC is not obligated to inform the Minister of Finance of the
amounts held in the reserve fund. The Minister of Finance has to find
out himself, if interested, the source pointed out.

The source is also concerned that though the new Bill mentions "Forests
Act 2007," there is no such Act. "How can one Act refer substantively
to another piece of legislation which has yet to be laid before the
National Assembly, and which we believe is in serious need of revision,
having been in draft for 11 years?" the source asked. The new act when
approved by the National Assembly shall come into operation on a date
appointed by order of the Minister of Agriculture.

Also, Prime Minister Sam Hinds will today move a motion to have the
conclusion of the 2004 report of the Disciplined Forces Commission
(DFC) considered by the National Assembly. The Prime Minister's motion
will seek to have the National Assembly give approval to the Special
Select Committee to be established to conclude the examination of the
report and recommendations of the DFC and report to the National
Assembly.

The motion will also seek to have the newly established Special Select
Committee of the Ninth Parliament take cognisance of the work of the
Special Select Committee of the Eighth Parliament that also considered
the report and its recommendations.

The final report of the DFC was delivered to the Speaker of the
National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran on May 6, 2004 and was presented to
the National Assembly on May 17, 2004 following which it was referred
to a Special Select Committee, which was established on November 4,
2004. This committee then commenced deliberations on the report by
inviting heads of the various disciplined forces to share their views
on the recommendations pertaining to their agencies.

The committee first examined the recommendations relating to the Guyana
Police Force and completed a draft preliminary report in April 2006,
but was unable, owing to the dissolution of Parliament on May 2, to
present that interim report.

The National Assembly will also today consider a motion that GAP/ROAR
member Everall Franklin. Franklin's National Security Committee Motion
wants the National Assembly to agree to the establishment of a Standing
Committee on National Security to review all aspects of national
security including but not limited to, the review of policies and
reforms, budgetary allocations and expenditures and the implementation
of a national security strategy and doctrine.