During his recent announcement that Guyana has started producing oil, President, David Granger said that the petroleum revenue that would be deposited into the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) would not be abused. In fact, the Head of State promised that his Government would spend the oil money wisely. But the political Opposition does not buy this for one minute.
In a statement to the media yesterday, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) reminded that the NRF Legislation was not only hurriedly passed by the APNU+AFC Coalition in the National Assembly, at a time when its authority was diminished as a caretaker government, but is lax in several areas.
In this regard, the PPP pointed out that the political influence that dominates this piece of legislation is far removed from what is global best practice.
It noted that the Minister of Finance is overall, in charge of the fund. The PPP highlighted that the operational management of the Fund will be done by the Central Bank, which reports to the Minister of Finance. The Macro-Economic Committee is appointed by the Minister of Finance and chaired by the Ministry of Finance. The Investment Committee is appointed by the Minister of Finance and chaired by the Ministry of Finance.
The Opposition said that these are only a few concerning examples. It stressed that an arms-length approach involving politicians ought to have been a critical element of the Fund. As such, the Party said that Granger’s comments on the use of monies from the Fund and “prioritizing investments” in key sectors such as education fail to inspire any confidence.
