By Samuel Sukhnandan
Government has announced its withdrawal from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Natural Globe Guyana Inc for the construction of a US$ 30 million recycling plant in Guyana.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr Roger Luncheon made the announcement at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President on Wednesday.
Dr Luncheon said in the wake of media revelations about the company following its recent execution of the MoU, Cabinet has decided to withdraw from the MoU with the firm, forestalling the planned move to Go-Invest for the necessary feasibility studies, prior to the execution of an investment agreement with the firm.
“With the withdrawal of this agreement… the work leading to a possible investment agreement is now abandoned,” the HPS said.
Dr Luncheon recalled that the MoU was signed last Monday, as he noted that it was later discovered that the due diligence report was not done thoroughly.
Due diligence
“Let me be the first to concede that it did not attract the same level of due diligence had it been the execution of a contract… so a number of areas were inadequately attended to and the revelations in the media pointed this out for the attention of Cabinet and the Guyanese people,” he added.
He noted that an MoU, by no means, translates into an agreement or project approval.
When questioned by the media, Dr Luncheon denied that government, under the MoU, had promised to make tax holidays, concessions, and other fiscal incentives available.
Guyana Inc CEO
Mohammed Osman
“The MoU did not in any way call for the administration to provide tax breaks and tax holidays, which are the usual demands and inclusions when contracts are being entered into.”
Natural Globe Guyana Inc Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mohammed Osman had been giving conflicting information about his company to the media which sometimes differed drastically from what was offered by the government.
Among those discrepancies was the fact that his company had only ever built a prototype of the facility he would have been required to build under the MoU.
Conflict-of-interest
On November 15, Human Services and Social Security Minister Jenifer Webster held a special press conference at her ministry’s office to deny reports that her daughter was investing US$ 15 million to establish the controversial US$ 30 million recycling plant in Guyana, even as she sought to dispel the issue of conflict of interest.
Webster’s comments came after the Kaieteur News reported that the minister’s daughter, Andriana Webster, was partnering with Osman to establish the recycling plant in keeping with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Local Government Ministry.
Irate over the situation, the minister argued that her daughter is not an investor but a director of the locally-registered company. Webster stated that she was never involved in the decision-making process when Cabinet granted its no-objection for the company to establish the recycling plant, explaining that she was on travel duties.
Dr Luncheon had told media operatives that Webster did not disclose that her daughter was involved.
Minister Webster explained that her daughter never informed her that she was a director of the company, so it cannot be considered a conflict of interest. Webster further dispelled the notion that her 28-year-old daughter who resides in Canada had been influenced to pursue the project because her mother is a government minister.
In a letter to the press, Andriana confirmed that she is a director of Natural Globe Guyana Inc and not the investor.
She said her work is no way influenced by her mother, noting that the decision to work for Natural Globe Inc was done on a professional basis.
Following criticism from sections of the press that Natural Globe Inc lacks the requisite experience to execute such a mega project and has a sketchy background, the Local Government Ministry last Thursday came out with a statement, defending the bona fides of the company.
Natural Globe Guyana Inc is a Guyana-based and registered entity, owned by Osman, and not a Canada-based company.
However, the ministry is contending that the company is partnering with other Canadian agencies, including the John Mogford Enterprise Inc of Ontario, Canada.
Mogford reportedly specialises in recycling waste into useful products, environmental management, and transportation planning. Additionally, Osman is a member of Tadger’s Fuel Economy Solutions, a key player in environmental management in Ontario.
