Latest update May 14th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 03, 2022 News
…citizens warn that unilateralism, triumphalism will hurt PPP in 2025
Kaieteur News- Guyanese continue to speak out against what they deemed the flawed Natural Resources Fund Bill which was hurriedly passed in the National Assembly last week.
Government has since mobilised all of its surrogate organisations to hail the new law as revolutionary and good for Guyana. The law has been widely reviled by most civil society organisations and commentators here, but was rushed through the Parliament amid chaotic scenes last Wednesday. The opposition has raised concerns about the legality of the passage of the bill which was also hurriedly signed into law by President Irfaan Ali mere hours after its passage.
US-based Guyanese, Dr Jerry Jailall in offering his thoughts on the passage of the bill said in a letter that the Guyana Government chose to go fast and alone in force-feeding the Natural Resource Fund Act on the nation, using its one-seat majority. “Despite its sloganeering about “One Guyana,” the PPP’s Engine Room essentially told the Opposition PNC and civil society representatives asking for more time for consultation, to go to hell,” Jailall wrote in a letter to the press. He said the Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, said “the key stakeholders, and not organisations without known supporters or members, should lead these advocacy and lobby efforts…that some of these organisations do not have many members or supporters but are sometimes ‘taken seriously’ in Guyana and internationally.”
“So how about the PNC representing the large group of 217,920 people who voted for them?” Using your standard Mr. VP, do they not have a right to ask for consultations? And Mr. VP, where in the Constitution or Article 13, does it have your litmus test that people who speak out must belong to groups with large memberships? Does every citizen not have a right to influence national decision-making? Or is it that the groups must be pro-PPP, with mentally lazy “Yes men” and lackeys?”
Jailall said the PPP won in imposing its bill without any debate, “but it ended up being a pyrrhic victory, that may turn out to bite them in a place they don’t want to be bitten. Its unilateralism and triumphalism may hurt them in 2025,” Jailall reasoned. He added: “The PPP has probably already lost all those crossover votes that catapulted them in the 2020 election.”
Jailall made reference to the petition that was signed by 64 Guyanese nationalists and the many statements issued by organizations such as the Policy Forum Guyana, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Guyana Bar Association, Trade Union Congress, the Transparency Institute of Guyana, the Article 13 group and others calling for more consultation.
He said the nation has been fractured for so long with no healing in sight, that people say “Guyana nah gat good…Guyana gone fuh channa.” “We are such a rich, lucky nation, with an abundance of resources, yet our people have remained poor and destitute for over six decades under both the PNC and PPP. We have become a nation dependent on barrels and foreign remittances, and now we can add hampers and “Because We Care” pittances to that list. We don’t have natural disasters as other countries which have to deal with hurricanes and earthquakes. Our disasters are man-made. They are called PNC and PPP, and there is no end to our misery until a credible third force emerges again. Nation, while we remain a “House Divided,” and renegotiation tarries, Exxon/HESS/CNOOC are dancing all the way to the bank. Instead of fighting the oil companies together for a better oil deal, the PPP and PNC are fighting each other over the NRF while the oil companies’ shareholders are giddy with oil profits from their Guyana investments. Wake up Guyana!”
Future of the oil-rich country
Adding his voice to the issue, Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Executive, Tacuma Ogunseye said in a letter to the press, the year 2021 will go down in the annals of Guyanese political history as the year that shaped the future of this oil-rich country. “Unfortunately, confrontation and conflict -driven by the negative policies and governance of the ruling PPP/C government – are unavoidable,” He said in the last few months, the PPPC has demonstrated beyond any shadow of a doubt its commitment to its previous governance style of domination and dictatorial governance, leaving the most optimistic of their election allies in political sinking sand and trying to hold on to the PPP/C’s elusive “democracy”.
“The government proposed electoral reform draft bill, the imposition of a partisan CEO in GECOM and most grievous, the recent passing of the National Resource Fund (NRF) despite widespread criticisms fell on deaf ears. Their rejection of a compromise for the bill to be sent to the Parliamentary Select Committee, allowing the nation more time to discuss it, is most egregious. The government response to this reasonable demand from Guyanese across the political/race divide at home and aboard amounts to a squandering of the “democratic dividend” it received in the post-2020 elections. They have thrown down the “gauntlet”. It is now for the masses, the political opposition in/out of the parliament, and civil society to rise up in defense of the nation’s patrimony which is being expropriated by the rulers,” Ogunseye said.
He said the hurried passage of the bill, and what is likely to occur, “is simply a matter of the rats wanting to run away with the cheese in broad daylight.”
Surendra Dhanpaul, had struck a more optimistic note the day after the passage of the bill, imploring President Ali to withhold his asset, but this was not to be. “I write today asking that President Ali withhold his assent on the same principle that his predecessor did. President Ali is in a uniquely advantageous position to listen to the people and organisations which do not support passage of the Bill but ask for further consultation before the Bill is law. Listen and hear the people, many of whom voted for you. This is not giving into the opposition. This is listening to the people and telling them “I hear you,” He had called on the President to show integrity. “This is the one quality that he explicitly specified that he would require of Board members. Show us what integrity means to you, President Ali.”
Dutch disease
Another letter writer, V. Singh, said for anyone following the developments with regard to the Natural Resources Fund Act, from its first iteration by the previous government to this one laid and passed by the current government, there are a few changes that could be concerning and that raise questions which could affect our development as a nation.
“My understanding of the macroeconomic committee (MC) in the previous version of the Act is that it served as a check on the spending power allowable by the Fund. As we all know, inflation triggered by the supply chain disruptions has already translated into a higher cost of living for us in Guyana. Inflation reported by the Bureau of Statistics has been higher this year than probably in more than a decade. Undoubtedly, part of this inflationary effect is also attributable to ramped up government spending. Without a MC, what mechanisms have been put in place in this version of the Act to manage the economic effects of ramped up public spending and the onset of Dutch Disease? At risk also is the competitiveness of our private sector,” Singh questioned.
Former Prime Minister, Hamilton Green said the proposal to dismantle the twenty-two member Committee to oversee the Natural Resources Fund is the slaughter of a fragile democracy and makes absurd the pontification of the President of One Guyana. He said an examination of the proposed Committee suggests that only one member, that is, one named by the Opposition Leader will be the only person without direct allegiance to the governing Party. He said the Government and Opposition should sit around the round-table and come up with a common strategy for the sake of this and succeeding generations. “Any unilateral approach is doomed for failure and dismemberment of our society,’ Green stated.
Amendments
The amendments to the legislation governing the NRF that have been put into law include two key committees and a Board of Directors to preside over the management of the nation’s oil money. Importantly, all of the members of these committees as well as the Board will be appointed by the President or his Minister responsible for natural resources.
As part of the governance structure for the NRF, the government proposes to establish a Board of Directors, which shall comprise of not less than three and not more than five persons who shall be appointed by the President, and one of whom shall be appointed Chairperson by the President.
The amended Bill proposes that the directors be selected from among persons who have wide experience and ability in legal, financial, business or administrative matters.
It was noted that one of the Board members, along with one person from the private sector will be nominated by the National Assembly. The Bill states that the directors shall be appointed for a period not exceeding two years and shall be eligible for reappointment. Apart from the Board, there will also be a seven-member Investment Committee appointed by the Minister of Natural Resources. The committee will include nominees from the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General Chambers, Leader of the Opposition, the Private Sector and two ex officio non-voting members. Also on the committee will be the Senior Investment Advisor and Analyst and a nominee from the Governor of Bank of Guyana. The Committee would be required to take account of the current conditions, opportunities and constraints in the relevant financial matters, the principle of financial diversification with the objective of maximizing risk-adjusted financial returns and taking into account the capacity of the institutions involved in the management of the fund and the nation’s ability to bear financial risk.
Listen how to run an oil country
May 14, 2024
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