Credit unions to fall under BOG

Dec 31, 2009 News

-Law amendment to require NGOs to declare overseas funding

By Leonard Gildarie

Government has announced new measures for next year that will require non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to declare all incoming foreign assistance.
Additionally, moves are being made to place credit unions under the watch of the Bank of Guyana.
This is according to Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, who made the disclosures yesterday at his office while outlining the works of his Ministry during this year and plans for 2010.
Speaking on the issue of NGOs and cooperatives which fall under the Friendly Societies Act, Nadir acknowledged that while some work has been done to restructure the operations of the organizations to bring accountability and transparency, there is still more to be done.
Early next year, the Ministry will be tabling amendments to the existing laws governing the operations of these groups that will mandate them to report overseas funding.
According to the Minister, the new measures are necessary because of all the problems currently associated NGOs.
Many NGOs, after receiving monies, would decline or fail to comply with the laws governing friendly societies which require annual returns to be filed.
Guyana ends up “getting a bad name” as whenever funds come to Guyana, there is a national responsibility for transparency and accountability.
As a matter of fact, the Minister reminded, all such organizations are obligated to report.
He disclosed that there is a marked spike in the applications for funding by NGOs wherever monies become available but then quite a number of these organizations fail to live up to the requirements of reporting what was done with the funding.
Meanwhile, Nadir disclosed that the Canadian Cooperative Development Association is working with the Ministry to “re-invigorate” the cooperative societies in the country.
The government official warned that coops to get their act together, a warning that the ministry has been sounding for the past 12 months.
Government has been forced to take over a number of cooperatives because of mismanagement. A number of these were agricultural cooperatives. Nadir stressed that the Ministry is not averse to extending its reach to ensure good governance is taking place in these organizations.
With regards to credit unions, with assets of over $11B being held by these, the intention is to bring them under the regulations of the Bank of Guyana in the New Year.
This measure is to ensure that members’ money are protected and good accountability exists.

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Credit unions to fall under BOG

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