Diaspora is necessary for Guyana’s Development

Sep 17, 2016 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

Guyana’s Finance Minister Winston Jordan just recently also announced that, for the first half of 2016, the South American CARICOM state’s economy grew 2%. And, with a small but steady growth rate, President Granger has stated that the country is doing “quite well”. He argues that the growth is quite sustainable, and things will get better in the coming year.
The President’s optimism is not shared by all in Guyana…especially the “small man and woman who are struggling to be real people”. Vendors at the market places are being harassed and prevented from earning legal means of livelihood; users of small amounts of ganja are still being targeted, charged and sentenced to jail time; crime seems to be taking more deadly turns, despite statistics that say otherwise and there is a general disquiet in the society that “money nah run”.
Maybe, it’s because the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is in town and drug barons have to keep their heads down. Money laundering is drying up as “high rollers” stash their cash or find means and ways to spirit “the grangers and the benjamins” out of the country.
Then, there is the PPP Opposition leader – former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s call to his sycophants to create “economic sabotage” by withholding investments and financial undertakings that would benefit Guyana. Apart from that, the wily and serpentine rabble rouser has been playing the role of “defender of the masses’ interests” with an ethnically divisive rhetoric at home and abroad!
When all is said and done, many Guyanese breathed a sigh of relief when, in its first major strike to stamp out lawlessness and regain control of the forestry sector, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) last week announced that it is moving to repossess over 600,000 hectares from BaiShanLin International Forest Development Inc., a Chinese logging company that has been under fire for its operations in Guyana.
According to GFC, the decision was taken after the cash-strapped BaiShanLin failed to deliver on agreed actions to introduce investors to the commission and failing despite being given time to prove that it had an acceptable plan to clear an approximately $80M debt. It was announced earlier this year that BaiShanLin’s partner, Long Jiang Forest Industries Group, was set to take over management of the company in Guyana after it became clear that monies had dried up for the company that had over-extended itself in too many sectors.
The announcement came after Minister of State Joseph Harmon had returned from an extended visit to China and meeting with officials of Long Jiang Forest Industries Group. The company has been heavily pushed by the Chinese government with tax and other concessions granted to it in China.
BaiShanLin was not only involved in logging and export. It had also branched off to gold mining, housing, river transportation, ship building and even property acquisition.
Several of the ventures, including its unfinished luxury homes and a mall, would tell a stark tale of an investment that went all too wrong…all too quickly. The company was even accused of burning down a large swath of forest up the Berbice River and never reporting it. It owes the government of Guyana hundreds of millions of dollars for properties it bought, including the Cacique Banquet Hall behind Ramada Princess Casino, in Providence. It was taken to court by BK International, a local contractor for hundreds of millions of dollars owed for housing lands at Providence.
Last year, Government halted log exports for the company after it became clear that a US$70M wood processing facility in Linden was not going to happen. That plant was key to BaiShanLin being granted billions of dollars in duty free concessions from since 2006 when it first appeared on the Guyana scene.
GFC, in explaining its decision to repossess the 618,000 hectares which BaiShanLin has managed to snap up, some under questionable means, made it clear that it has been engaging the company since April 8, 2016 to provide an update on its plans to clear the $80M debts.
BaiShanLin’s presence in Guyana had been an extremely uncomfortable one for especially the last administration of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), under President Donald Ramotar, after it became known that the company was virtually given a “blank cheque” to carry out operations here.
It was allowed to bring in hundreds of Chinese workers without much attention paid by local authorities to ensure that they returned home after their contract ended. The situation was so bad that British and German immigration authorities were convinced that BaiShanLin had stretched its tentacles to human trafficking. The company even attempted to bring women in on flights from China but a number of them were detained, with immigration authorities saying they did not fit the profile of being logging workers.
There are indications, too, from correspondence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that certain officials of the Clement Rohee-led Ministry of Home Affairs may have been bribed to facilitate visas for BaiShanLin. In Guyana, BaiShanLin was the third largest holder of state forests behind Barama Company Limited, a Malaysian company, and the Indian-owned Vaitarna Holdings. In 2011, it was granted 52,896 hectares up the Berbice River through a company named Haimorakabra Logging Company Inc.
At the end of the day, what is evident is that more attention has to be paid towards encouraging individuals, companies and corporations from the Diaspora to invest in Guyana and to contribute in whatever way to the development of the “co-operative” Republic of Guyana. Budget 2017, here we come!
Ras Leon Saul

 

Editor’s note: This is the conclusion of Mr. Saul’s letter originally carried in our Thursday’s edition

---

---