While the Alliance for Change (AFC) still questions the legitimacy of the December 2021 passage of the Natural Resources Fund (amendment) Act, it will not pass up on the opportunity to partake in the Committee of Appointments’ nomination of a suitable candidate to scrutinise oil monies, party executives said today.
The amendments were passed in the National Assembly on December 29, amidst in-house protestation and the forcible removal of the mace by opposition parliamentarian, Annette Ferguson. A Partnership for National Unity + AFC (APNU+AFC) subsequently sought to justify its action by saying it was doing it for the people and future generations.
The Speaker’s use of a replica mace and the avoidance of the criteria that all members must be seated during a vote, were some of the arguments posited by the Opposition to reinforce its contention that the bill was passed illegitimately. Despite all of this, the AFC will still participate in selecting a nominee in accordance with the same bill that has now become law.
The NRF is to be governed by a Board of Directors comprising not less than three and not more than five directors. Parliament has been asked to consider the nominee put forward by the Committee on Appointments, while the Private Sector will also nominate one candidate and the President has the power to appoint up to three persons.
Asked why the AFC would participate in a function that stems from a law it dubbed “illegally” passed, Party Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan posited, “Good politicians that [sic] like good governance would realise that although we opposed the act, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the contents of the Act cannot, as best as possible, be fulfilled. And so, although we have been in opposition against this new Act of 2021, that does not necessarily mean that, if all things being equal, if we’re given an opportunity to nominate a competent, capable person, we would not do that. I think it would be bad politics on our part.”
AFC Executive Member and former Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson concurred; saying that irrespective of how the AFC perceives the passage of the NRF, more than US$600M has already been “taken out” of the fund. He said that it would, therefore, be in the best interest of all Guyanese that someone with “high credibility” and independence is appointed.
AFC Member and former Telecommunications Minister, Catherine Hughes also echoed those sentiments. She said, “the AFC is not willing to give up the very important role of scrutinising how Guyana’s monies are spent. We have a responsibility to ensure that we can scrutinise regardless of the way we may be treated, or how we come to the table. But primarily, we have to ensure that money is put to good use because it belongs to each and every Guyanese.”
