Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 12, 2022 News
Kaieteur News – Opposition Member of Parliament and Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC), Shurwayne Holder has expressed his party’s uneasiness with the recent appointment of members of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Public Accountability and Oversight Committee stating that several of appointees currently have strong links with the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government.
Holder in a public letter said that the new NRF Act does not spell out the specific functions and the authority of the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee, just to say that it shall provide non- Government oversight of the fund, with no detailed information on scrutinising Government spending of the oil money. He said that the Oversight Committee is now made up of one nominee from Parliament, three from the religious community, two from the Private Sector, two from “organised labour” and one from the “professions”. Holder pointed out that he has no personal issue with the appointees or their competence, but questions “…their obvious connection with the PPP and hence their ability to effectively scrutinise the PPP’s handling of the oil fund.”
He said that seven of the nine persons appointed, are known publicly to have deep affiliation with the PPP, while the two representatives from the Private Sector are a sitting Vice President and a former Vice President of the Private Sector Commission. “We all know where the Private Sector Commission leans,” Holder hinted. He continued that of the three representatives from the religious community, one is from the Dharmic Sabha which has close ties to a Minister of Government, in that she leads the Dharmic Sabha. “The second representative I assume comes from a Muslim Organisation but happens to be the Chief Commercial Officer of a major Internet Service Provider. The Chief Executive Officer of that company happens to be the son of a former PPP Minister and brother of a sitting Minister, Holder continued. “The third representative from the religious community has known links to GINA and the Ministry of Health. In fact he was a known critic of former Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and wrote articles to that effect.”
The Opposition MP went on to accuse the Government of coining the NRF bill to allow them to largely determine the nominees from the Labour Unions. “Instead of allowing the two major unions – GTUC and FITUG to provide nominees, one representative came from GPSU (a breakaway faction of GTUC) and the other being the General Secretary of GAWU”, whose President is a PPP MP, he said.
The Parliamentary Nominee, Holder continued, was virtually selected by the PPP through their one seat majority and has been appointed by the President to chair the Committee. Holder said it is “quite clear that the PPP Government has no genuine interest in transparency and accountability with respect to the spending of oil money. What it is interested in and has since been accomplished is the appointment of its friends and cronies to allow for total domination and control of the NRF board and more importantly the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee.” “In this regard, I applaud United Kingdom Parliamentarian David Lammy for his refusal to sit as a puppet on the NRF board and to be a part of a system that is aimed at aiding a corrupt Government.”
Holder said that under the previous Government, the matter of transparency was addressed. “…the APNU+AFC had a superior formula with regards to the transparency and accountability aspects of the Natural Resource Fund. The previous Government established a Public Accountability and Oversight Committee that comprised a wide array of professionals with many of them from credible organisations that are known advocates of transparency and accountability.” He explained that the APNU+AFC formula brought together a twenty-two member committee including representatives from the Guyana Press Association, Civil Society, Transparency International, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Reps from each of the ten RDCs among many others. This arrangement ensured that Civil Society played a pivotal role and that there was proper oversight of the Natural Resource Fund.
The functions of the NRF, he continued, included monitoring and evaluating the compliance of Government with the provisions in the Act, monitoring and evaluating whether the funds have been managed in accordance with the principle of transparency, good governance and international best practices. “Importantly, the Oversight Committee had the mandate to provide independent assessments of the fund, withdrawals from it and to facilitate public consultations in the management and utilisation of the fund.” He added that the former Act created a proper Public Accountability and Oversight Committee with a clear mandate to scrutinise the spending of our oil money and to make public any act committed by the government that in contravention of the law or outside of good governance practices.
He pointed out too that all the persons nominated by the Opposition were turned down by the Government. They included Petroleum Engineer Dr. Vincent Adams, Economist Elson Low, and Attorney -at- Law and Charter Accountant, Christopher Ram.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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