Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 11, 2016 News
A major problem of monitoring and compliance in the logging and gold mining sectors is expected to receive a shot in the arm with a special team that is to be established.
According to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Cabinet on Tuesday approved the establishment of unit of wardens that will have policing powers to tackle illegal logging and mining, trafficking in persons and even drug dealing.
The agencies that will be collaborating and benefitting include the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC); Guyana Gold Board; Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Protected Areas Commission (PAC); Guyana Wildlife Management Authority; and the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission.
Updating media personnel during the weekly post-Cabinet briefing yesterday at the Ministry of the Presidency, Harmon said that on Tuesday, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman made a case for the establishment of a core unit of wardens to support compliance and enforcement policies programs within his ministry.
With the extractive sectors experiencing significant expansion in recent years, Trotman reportedly argued that it was a challenge using the current resources to properly monitor the vast areas.
GGMC and GFC are both said to be limited in resources with officials forced to be accompanied by police in their visits.
According to Harmon, there has been an increase in illegal activities and non compliance with the laws and regulations becoming entrenched.
Since taking office last year May, the coalition government has ordered a number of inquiries into mining deaths which found negligence and non compliance in many of the cases.
The situation, if left unchecked, could place Guyana in a precarious position of even being in breach of the number of international protocols and agreements that has been signed.
“The need for robust compliance and enforcement programs across the extractive industries sector was therefore necessary and urgent,” Harmon stressed.
Among other things, the wardens will have to tackle non compliance with mining related regulations; provide institutional capacity to enable enforcement of the various regulatory frameworks; coordinate actions against evidence of illegal mining, drug trafficking, deforestation, and handling trafficking in persons cases as they occur.
The wardens will also have powers to inspect rivers and other waterways to ensure that miners and loggers are not damaging them.
The improper handling of chemical wastes will also be targeted.
“The core of wardens will also be expected to be an emergency rescue and disaster recovery unit within the natural resources sector,” Minister Harmon explained.
The wardens, comprising current experienced operators within GGMC, GFC and other agencies, as well as new recruits, will receive a “certain level of police” and other specialised training and eventually receive police powers.
Of course, Harmon said, the vacancies will be advertised and there will be a recruitment process.
Over the years, there have been several murders and cases of robberies in the mining areas, with illegal shops also being a major problem. It is not unknown for criminal elements to escape to the hinterland where the crime rate has seen a spike in recent years.
Harmon noted that the wardens will not replace mines and forestry officers, but rather, complement them.
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