Greenidge sets record straight on Partnership for Sustainable Land Management

Jul 04, 2021 News

– says nothing improper or illegal about privileges granted under Granger regime

Kaieteur News – Was there a breach of protocol or law when an intergovernmental organisation called, the Partnership for Sustainable Land Management recently invoked its duty-free privileges to import a 2019 Mercedes G550 and a 2021 Cadillac Escalade? This is the question many stakeholders have been asking since learning of this along with the fact that the Task Force for the very organisation was chaired by former Head of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission, Trevor Benn who is currently facing several charges before the court.

Advisor on Borders & Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge.

But another related question, which stakeholders are curious to have answers to is whether former Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge, acted improperly when he granted the organisation such privileges back in 2018. Confronted on this matter recently, the former Minister categorically stated that his actions were in keeping with the status of the agency and current protocols.
Greenidge said it is crucial for one to note that the PISLM Support Office was set up in 2014 on the basis of decisions taken in 2008 not by private individuals but by CARICOM Governments in pursuit of improving the general economic well-being of (SIDS) Small Island Developing States including Guyana and Belize, (and those with low-lying coasts).
He further noted that the PISLM is a plurilateral agency involving CARICOM and non-CARICOM states, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and UN agencies. He stated that all the administrative arrangements regarding its board, permanent members, secretariat, functions etc, were concluded prior to 2015 with the involvement of the PPP administration at that time.
In 2018, Greenidge explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ legal officers examined a request from PISLM to be treated as a specialised United Nations agency and recommended, given the agency’s functions, that the ‘new’ Government accede to the request. He said this was done.
Further to this, the former Minister said there are some sections of the media which, based on published reports, are unaware that the diplomatic privileges that are enjoyed by foreign Missions /Diplomatic Corps in Guyana is not restricted to representatives of countries (bilaterals) and UN staff.
He said, “Many specialised agencies, or intergovernmental bodies at the international, regional and national level, similar to the PISLM and including Iwokrama, enjoy the rights cited. The idea therefore that the agency has been improperly granted ‘a range of freedoms’, such as duty-free importation and protection of their official premises and officers while carrying out their duties …, ‘could raise eyebrows at the Foreign Affairs Ministry’ because they are ‘akin to that of a diplomat’ (sic) is nothing but biased drama intended to influence a similarly uninformed readership.”
Greenidge also stressed that the agency authorised to grant such privileges is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and “in the conduct of my work as the policy-maker, I routinely consulted all the relevant senior officers of the Ministry, meaning the legal advisers, protocol and diplomatic staff and administrators, where relevant, on important decisions.”
Greenidge said, “Prior to being a Minister, I was retained by international, regional and national bodies to advise on and to undertake lectures/workshops within and outside of the region, including Asia, on such matters as the interface between public servants and Ministers. As a matter of routine and, more importantly in the case at hand, the relevant Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff were not only involved in the decision process but concurred with the final decision. I am proud of this.”
Furthermore, Greenidge said the posts attracting the privileges and those immunities publicised have to be agreed beforehand between the Government representatives and the agency in question. Contrary to the impression given in certain reports, Greenidge said these privileges are not available to all PISLM staff members and could not be enjoyed by Mr. Benn, the former Chairman of the Task Force Board, “who seems to be the main intended target of recent reports.”
In conclusion, Greenidge categorically stated, “There is absolutely nothing improper or unfair about the grant of the privileges to the agency and no regulations, protocols, conventions or laws have been broken or breached.”
As for the vehicles that the agency is apparently seeking to import, Greenidge said, “As far as I am aware, our laws governing duty-free importation do not discriminate among the nationality of beneficiaries and do not make reference to cost but to cubic capacity or propulsion systems. I am not aware of any basis on which the Government can properly determine that one set of Missions (say the EU) can, but another (say a Caribbean High Commissioner), cannot import ‘high-end vehicles’. Since the vehicles are apparently only now in the process of being imported, the current Government may act as it sees fit, if the law permits.” He said for this part, he acted on the basis of legal and protocol advice available to him.