Last Friday, February 11th, President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that there will soon be changes at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). He hinted that the current commissioner, William Woolford, could lose his job in a restructuring that would seek to revolutionise the mining sector.
This disclosure was made during the president’s response to an inquiry by this newspaper, at a news conference last Friday, about commissioner Woolford’s recent response to his statement about numerous reports of corruption at the GGMC, especially in the fields. Jagdeo, who was at the time addressing the annual army conference at Base Camp Ayanganna when he made the disclosure, had called on senior and junior officers to support public service agencies, particularly the GGMC, where he said the corruption that existed in the field was “unbelievable”.
Woolford had reacted by saying that, as far as he knew, there was no evidence to substantiate the president’s claims, and that while there have been allegations to that effect, persons making those assertions had not come forward with the necessary proof.
Woolford’s statement had sparked a reaction from the Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, former Commissioner of the GGMC, Robeson Benn, who expressed surprise at Woolford’s response.
Benn had said that he hoped Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who has overall responsibility for the mining sector, would address Woolford’s statement, and had noted, too, that the GGMC should urgently review its leadership to deal particularly with the problems in the field and the effectiveness on the ground.
For his part, President Jagdeo noted that if the commissioner did not recognise there was corruption in the field, then he should not be commissioner of GGMC. “He (Woolford) knows that there have been several, several charges; I saw more recently. Even the head of the GGDMA was talking about police trying to get people to declare their gold on the ground. We live in Guyana. You talk to miners and, if they are not on the record, they will tell you about what happens on the ground.” Jagdeo added that the commissioner is also responsible for interacting with miners on issues that affect them.
He advised the prime minister that the leadership of the GGMC should spend at least 10 days in the interior. “There may be lots of miners who may not come forward, but there are patterns. I can isolate patterns. Some miners come to me and they would identify a particular officer, and when we cross check, it’s true. People from the area would say this. Very little has been done, and he has functional, that is, day-to-day authority, over this agency… he is running this agency. He has a duty to go out in the fields, talk to miners and make changes.”
The president also noted that he does not get the same complaints about the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), and joked that maybe it is since a log could not fit in a person’s pocket.
The head of state also said that one of the changes already made at GGMC was that of retired Major General Joe Singh being named chairman of the board of that entity.
“Clearly, there are going to be some changes at GGMC. “We have been discussing this for the past six months at Cabinet. We are currently examining a new structure for the organization.” The new structure is expected to reflect the sector’s growth, discovery of additional gold mines, and the search for oil, gas and uranium. The president said this structure encompasses a bigger vision, one that ensures sustainable mining without any corruption.
“There have been some discussions on a new structure that will encompass the new opportunities and challenges of the sector and, hopefully, within a matter of months, we would be able to put that structure in place.” The president disclosed that he did not feel there was any need to move Woolford before the new structure of the GGMC has been put in place.
