Dear Editor,
I was invited as a Rule of Law Advisor to review whether the rights of Wallace Daniels are being violated by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s (GGMC) based on their refusal to grant and approve his application made on December 7, 2012, for a Prospecting Permit. I examined the Decision by Principal Magistrate, Allan Wilson, who was appointed by the GGMC in 2023, as the ‘Hearing Officer/Presiding Officer’ for the matter involving Wallace Daniels, a holder of mining properties, and Andron Alphonso. The hearing was whether the application made by Wallace Daniels for Prospecting Permit ought to be granted by the Commissioner of GGMC. Having examined the evidence in this hearing, the Hearing Officer, Allan Wilson, submitted a decision based on his findings to the GGMC which stated that at the time when Wallace Daniels submitted his application to the GGMC for the mining permit for mining lands, the lands were available and not claimed by any other person or companies.
However, it should be noted that in a backdated Order dated December 6, 2012, the Minister of Natural Resources made an Order which instructed that the mining area applied for by Wallace Daniels, be reserved and that Order is still in force which declared the area to be a reserved area and no one should be working in the area as a result of the Order. It is important to note that the Minister backdated this Order to December 6, 2012, which is the day before Wallace Daniels submitted his application for Prospecting Permit to GGMC. The Hearing Officer, Allan Wilson, indicated in his decision to the Commissioner of GGMC that the fact that no application was made by anyone else for Prospecting Permit Medium Scale (PPMS) for the blocks applied for by Wallace Daniels the decision he arrived at is that the Commissioner of GGMC, notwithstanding the Order of the Minister of Natural Resources made on December 6, 2012, ought to grant and approve the application for Prospecting Permit by Wallace Daniels Dated December 7, 2012. This decision was dated May 20, 2024.
Later in 2024, the GGMC brought an action in the High Court for a Judicial Review of the Hearing Officer or Presiding Officer’s decision which GGMC claimed was in contravention of the Ministers Order of retrospectivity. Retrospectivity in law refers to a law applying backward in time, changing the legal consequences of past actions, events, or transactions. The High Court matter constituted the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission as the Applicant and Allan Wilson, Wallace Edgar Daniels and Andron Alphonso as Respondents. In the application for Judicial Review, GGMC requested that the court squash the decision of Allan Wilson the Presiding Officer, that GGMC grant the Prospecting Permit to Wallace Daniels, notwithstanding the Prospecting and Mining of Minerals Reservation Order No. 38 of 3 May, 2023 of the Minister of Natural Resources prohibiting prospecting or mining in the area which is the area applied for by Wallace Daniels. The matter was heard by Justice Jacqueline Josiah-Graham on December 18, 2024, who dismissed the application for Judicial Review by GGMC. This means that the High Court ruled that the Commissioner of GGMC ought to grant and approve a Prospecting Permit to Wallace Daniels which was consistent with the findings and decision of the Presiding Officer or Hearing Officer dated December 7, 2012.
However, even after the decisions of the Hearing Officer/Presiding Officer and Justice Josiah-Graham, GGMC did not grant or approved the Prospecting Permit to Wallace Daniels. In this context, I examined GGMC’s refusal to grant the Prospecting Permit to Wallace Daniels and the Minister’s Order (which was backdated to December 6, 2012, the day before Wallace Daniels application to GGMC) which instructed that the land applied for by Wallace Daniels be reserved and that order is still in force which declared the area to be a reserved area and no one should be working in the area as a result of the Order.
In my view, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, in addition to non-compliance with the decision of the Hearing Officer/Presiding Officer and respecting the decision of Justice Josiah-Graham who dismissed the High Court Application for Judicial Review; is in violation of the Constitutional rights of Wallace Daniels as an entrepreneur and is hindering his economic development under the section ‘Further Goal of Economic Development’ in Article 15 of the Constitution of Guyana which states that ‘The goal of economic development includes objective of laying the material basis for the greatest possible satisfaction of the people’s growing material, cultural and intellectual requirements, as well as the dynamically stable development of their personality, creativity, entrepreneurial skills, and co- operative relations in a plural society. The State shall intervene to mitigate any deleterious effects of competition on individuals or groups of individuals’. In Article 16 under section ‘Foster Forms of Government’ it states that ‘The State shall foster the development of such relevant forms of cooperation and of business entities as are seen to be supportive of the goals of economic development as stated in articles 14 and 15’. Under Article 17 in the section ‘Private Enterprise’ it states that ‘Privately owned economic enterprises are recognised, and shall be facilitated in accord with their conformity with the aims and objectives stated or implied in articles 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17’.
The failure of GGMC to grant and approve the Prospecting Permit to Wallace Daniels is in contravention of Articles 14 and 15. The Minister of Natural Resources is in contravention of Article 16 of the Constitution by failing to ‘foster the development of such relevant forms of cooperation and of business entities as are seen to be supportive of the goals of economic development as stated in articles 14 and 15’. The GGMC decisions and allocation of Prospecting Permits must be rights-based and not based on political directives or preferences for some miners over others. GGMC need to proceed to grant and approve the Prospecting Permit to Wallace Daniels.