Is Janet Bulkan misinforming the public?

Is Janet Bulkan misinforming the public?
Kaieteur News, 1 September 2007

Dear Editor,

I constantly read articles in the letters column, and in the past I
paid a lot of attention to the letters written by one Janet Bulkan, who
seemed to be exposing a lot of bad practices in the forestry sector and
pointing out the shortcomings of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC)
and Government.

I was therefore pleased again when I saw the article by Ms. Bulkan,
indicating that Demerara Timbers Limited was clandestinely acquired by
Bai Shan Lin, because I felt good that such wrongdoings were no longer
being swept under the carpet, but were being actively exposed by
champions such as Janet Bulkan.

To my surprise and amazement, I read, the very next day, the rebuttal
by the Chief Executive Officer of Demerara Timbers Limited that the
story reported by Ms. Bulkan is fictional rather than factual.

In the past, whenever the GFC made a rebuttal of Balkan's allegations,
I was unimpressed because I saw it just as a lame defence. I now,
however, will have to give credibility to the responses of the GFC,
since it is unacceptable that Ms. Bulkan can write such erroneous
statements.

The least she could have done was to contact the GFC for some
clarification, but instead, she chose to make the news, rather than
report it, she chose to sensationalise issues in her apparent goal of
mud-slinging at the GFC.

I also understand that Ms. Bulkan was once a very senior scientist
attached to the Iwokrama programme. Can she elaborate on the success
stories of herself and the other high priced “scientists”?

Can she tell us why the Guyana National Certification Standard is still
to be completed?

I seem to recall that she was once the chairperson of that initiative.
The responses to these questions may make for interesting reading,
which, hopefully, will be factual for once.

Chris Simpson