guyanatimesgy.com
sunDAY, january 18, 2015
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You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com
GFC has adequately Only three countries have abolished appeals to Privy Council responded to John Cannon Dear Editor, I read an article in Guyana Times on January 14 under the headline, “KN article riddled with false accusations, says Head, Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC)”. I am happy that Head of the GFC James Singh slammed and subsequently destroyed the article of lies about the management of Guyana’s Forestry Sector by some journalist name John C Cannon of mongabay.com. The headline of the article, “Chinese logging company takes over Guyana’s forest”, is a perfect lie and if this is only the headline of the article, then the story
behind is merely a fiction. Shame on Mr Cannon for lying on his environmental news site. But where did Cannon got his information from regarding the management of Guyana’s forests? In Guyana Times article I saw the name John Palmer (whose partner is Janet Bulkan) of a forest management trust based in Florida, whom Cannon used as a reference in his article and immediately I recognised that the said article is saturated with lies after reading it. Cannon was duped. The Head of the GFC has adequately responded to the correspondent at the monabay. com, providing him with re-
liable and accurate information regarding Guyana’s forests and the company Bai shan lin, and I will therefore not further comment on Cannon’s article which is definitely misleading, wicked and unprofessional. However, I strongly suspect that Cannon’s article is a planned response to a timber operator’s claim in another section of the media that he was unable to get a 10-acre lease along the Linden-Lethem road. But a valid reason was given by the relevant authority, even according to another article on that matter. Peter Persaud
Honouring Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Dear Editor, Americans on each third Monday of January honour the life and achievements of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, (1929–1968), the 1964 Nobel Peace Laureate and the individual most associated with the triumphs of the African-American civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. As political organiser, supremely skilled orator and advocate of nonviolent protest, King was pivotal in persuading his fellow Americans to end the legal segregation that prevailed throughout the South and parts of other regions, and in sparking support for the civil rights legislation that established the legal framework for racial equality in the United States. Dr King, like South African President Nelson Mandela, was a visionary who believed in the human spirit and chose nonviolence to armed resistance.
Like Nelson Mandela, he suffered greatly, but he converted his suffering into inspiration for millions of people in the United States and throughout the world. In his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail written in April 1963, he wrote that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”. The civil rights movement was driven by acts of courage – by individuals who stood up for what was right. Despite the threats and acts of intimidation, leaders like Dr King, Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall stood their ground and fought for their beliefs. It is because of their courage and perseverance that historic legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed.
With four words, ““I Have A Dream”, Dr King inspired thousands of people to stand up and fight for equality, peace and justice. His universal words were not just inspiration for African Americans, they gave hope to the poor and disadvantaged all of over the world. By honouring Dr King, we honour all people, past and present, who stand up for equality and justice. These are common values that the United States shares with Guyana. We lost Dr King in 1968 far too early at just 39 years of age, but his spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of millions of children and adults around the globe. Dr King’s writing and speeches of more than 50 years ago still resonate today. Let freedom ring!
Air Safety Regulations The directorate continued its routine task during the year with respect to the Renewal of Certificate of Airworthiness, Aircraft Spot Inspection, approved Training Organisation Audit, ATO Training Programme Audit, Approved Maintenance Organisation Audit, Air Operator Certificate Holder Organisation Audit, Aircraft Records Inspection, and Aircraft Ramp Inspection. The GCAA was assisted with its flight operations functions by CASSOS, and to Foreign Operations Specifications was issued to Copa Airlines, Insel Air Aruba N.V and Insel Air International B.V. Two new aerodromes were licenced, and licences for six private domestic aerodromes were renewed, while licences
for 57 government owned aerodromes were renewed. Three operators were issued with Air Operator’s Certificate: Hinterland Aviation Inc., Domestic Airways and Golden Arrow Airways, while six aircraft were imported and placed on the Guyana register with certificates of airworthiness issued to them. These included a new Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, which was added to JAGS Aviation. Meanwhile, the CJIA and Ogle International Airport were inspected, and their licences renewed, while the Caribbean Airlines Accident Report was completed and released during 2014. The project to achieve compliance with the requirements of ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) has commenced and the target is the achievement
of an acceptable level of effective implementation (70%) by December 2015.
Bryan Hunt US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires
ASL and Trans Guyana...
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Projections for 2015 The GCAA will continue to improve and develop aeronautical surveillance, using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast System (ADS-B), which will increase the efficiency and capacity of Guyana’s airspace, to accommodate a larger volume of traffic/aircraft operations in the airspace, and also to track aircraft movements in real time. The agency will also seek to review the organisation’s structure and to increase staffing to enhance the oversight functions of the Authority, and acquire new Air Traffic Control Simulator, for training of air traffic controllers in Guyana.
Dear Editor, Although only three countries have abolished appeals to the Privy Council, the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) has appointed a judge to replace Justice Desiree Bernard who went into retirement on March 1 last year. One would have thought that since the workload is not as much as was expected, the regional court would have continued to function until more countries join the Appellate Division of the CCJ. However the CCJ, in its original jurisdiction, interprets and applies the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas ― which established the Caribbean Community Caricom and is an international court with compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation of the treaty. I have been informed that despite the fact that most countries have not yet fully on board, the judges are still busy dealing with matters in its original jurisdiction It is very disappointing that only Guyana, Barbados, and Belize have severed ties with the London
based Privy Council, and Dominica's Parliament approved a Bill in July 2014 to make the CCJ the final court. I wonder what is the delay for that country to go join when the British Government has given the greenlight a year ago for that OECS country to severe ties with the Londonbased Privy Council. The CCJ was established in 2001 and it is very unfortunate that the other Caricom countries have not yet severed the apron string from the Privy Council, despite the fact that Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica gained political independence from Britain in 1962 more than 52 years ago. In fact, those two countries were in the forefront in establishing the regional court. They are now singing a different tune. Although Jamaica is contributing the most financially it seems no longer interested. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister had intimated that she was considering abolishing criminal appeals to the Privy Council, but recently disclosed that she will seek mandate from the electorate by way of referendum.
St Lucia's Prime Minister said his country will join, but no concrete step has been taken to do so in this regard. A referendum seeking mandate from the electorates in St Vincent and the Grenadines to join failed five years ago, because in my view it was loaded with other changes to the Constitution, including the removal of the Queen as Head of State. Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts/ Nevis indicated that they were interested, but they are still to put the machinery in motion. The new judge named is Justice Maureen Rajnauth Lee, an Appellate Court Judge of her homeland, Trinidad and Tobago who is a brilliant jurist and copped first class honours which she gained her LLB degree ― a prerequisite to law school. Incidentally, she was a colleague of mine at the Hugh Wooding Law School. She takes up her appointment in April this year. She will join six other justices including President Sir Denis Byron. Oscar Ramjeet