In the same boat

Nov 12, 2013 Editorial

Harsh realities are not readily accepted. At the same time people who hold form opinions are intolerant of the opinions of others. This is the case in Guyana today, a few days after the National Assembly opted to vote against the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill.
On Friday, President Donald Ramotar told the media that he was sending two emissaries—Attorney General Anil Nandlall; and head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Paul Geer—to beg the people in the Bahamas on November 18 to spare a thought for Guyana’s parliamentary system. They are supposed to tell the people that the system is what prevented the passage of the anti-money laundering Bill.
Of course this is rubbish because the people to whom President Ramotar is sending his emissaries are not fools. They are already aware that the government made no effort to enact the legislation although the anti-money laundering Act had been in place since 2009. Further, the government had three years to tender some of the amendments but did nothing.
Of course, given that laidback attitude the parliamentary opposition had every right to refuse to be rushed. If the people who rule the country could sit on the Bill for three years, surely the opposition with its parliamentary majority should make them pay.
We return to the likely reaction of the people who heat the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). They already know everything that transpired in the National Assembly. They are also aware that many of the recommendations had been in place to facilitate any amendment ever since the time the government had the parliamentary majority.
What is embarrassing and will come back to hurt Guyana is the fact that all the countries who would have been handed the recommendations as the same time as Guyana would have passed their amended anti-money laundering legislation.
The government Chief Whip has been roundly criticized for actually ensuring that there is no Bill. She dragged the Bill form the parliamentary select committee in the absence of the opposition. She had to know that this would most certainly kill the Bill when it reached the National Assembly.
People now want to know whether the government actually wants anti-money laundering legislation. Perhaps it does not; given the extended reports of corruption. Perhaps the corrupt in the society who happen to be very close to the government, want even more time to launder their money.
Having acknowledged that the government was largely responsible for the demise of the Bill, one cannot absolve the opposition of blame. Indeed, so divided is the country that people are lined up against each other to defend either the government or the opposition. Blaming either one is enough to spark a mini war. This is because of the intolerance of each other’s ideas. Many people are not prepared to examine the situation in a rational manner.
Those who come down harshly on the government do not believe that serious sanctions would apply. They said that nowhere in the world has any country been denied the basic necessities. Therefore, for anyone to suggest that sanctions would visit Guyana and would actually hurt the economy is to introduce scare tactics. Many hold this view.
These are not the people who have already begun to feel the pinch; people who did not even notice that they need some form of identification to deposit their own money for safekeeping with the commercial banks; people who must now create tons of documentation in order to pay for imports.
The people in the private sector are the ones who are going to suffer as they quite rightly attempted to influence a successful passage of the Bill. Unfortunately, they were seen as being opportunistic and were therefore chided.
The private sector from time to time would remain silent in the face of serious government actions that many would find questionable. The reason offered is that the sector expected favours from the government and there could be no criticism of the goose expected to lay the golden egg.
The die is cast and Guyana must somehow unite to beat this crisis.

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