[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is in full support of the pull out of Muri Brasil Ventures Inc from conducting the survey in the New River Triangle Area.
In a press statement issued on Friday, January 10, the GHRA stated that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment sees no abuse of power, conflict of interest, deception, reason for regret, apology, explanation or shame in the saga.
“The over-all conclusion to be drawn is that government is not to be trusted to act in the public interest with respect to protecting the national patrimony. “Since the Government can no longer be expected to place the national interest before private interests other forms of protection must be sought. For that reason, sectors of the society other than the Government – the professional, trade union, religious, military, environmental and non-governmental agencies, together with enlightened business and mining interests- will have to step up,” the GHRA noted.
Muri Brasil Ventures Inc was authorized to conduct Permission for Geographical and Geophysical Survey (PGGS) in South East of Guyana (New River).
The Company in announcing its pullout on January 4 had said that although the process was legal and transparent, this decision is due to the misinformation, prejudice and hostility to this proposed survey by persons and agencies which are fostering an adverse investment climate in Guyana.
Opposition Member of Parliament Joseph Harmon, who was one of the persons from the opposition benches who became very critical of the permission, credited the Media, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and the Political Opposition for causing Muri Brasil to scrap the deal.
The Opposition also received credit in a Surinamese newspaper for influencing the pullout.
Muri Brasil Ventures Inc is registered in Guyana under the Companies Act whose shareholders and directors are Guyanese citizens and have substantial experience in the mining industry.
Following the announcement by Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Robert Persaud of the permission granted for Muri Brazil to survey the area, a series of articles published in relation to the survey being conducted in the New River Triangle was published placing the agreement in a bad light. Objections to the survey were also raised by several opposition members, particularly Harmon.
Following these objections, Minister Persaud expressed the view that it was an environmental scare that was being peddled by certain sections of society and deemed it to be “profound ignorance.”
The Minister had said, “The whipping up of environmental scare about the PGGS reflects either a profound ignorance of the scope of the activity or sheer mischief intended to mislead the public” adding that, “There was no breach of process nor violation of any established legal processes as stated in our laws on the granting of the PGGS. This is not the first PGGS to be granted in Guyana.”
