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Opposition not concerned about national interest – Rohee
General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party and Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has expressed that the opposition, by way of its conduct, is not interested with “the national interest of Guyana”.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee
Rohee was at the time speaking on the perception that the Government was not desirous of having the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill passed. The Bill is still being deliberated upon in the Parliamentary Select Committee, which means that Guyana will miss the deadline Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary review in France which is scheduled for tomorrow.
The opinion was that if the government had really wanted the Bill passed then it would have compromised either with the Alliance For Change (AFC)’s positions of establishing a Public Procurement Commission or A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s position of reducing some of the powers vested in the Ministers (Finance and Legal Affairs) over the citizenry so that it (government) could get the necessary support to have the Bill passed in time.
According to the General Secretary, his party and by extension government would be putting themselves in a “foolhardy” position if they didn’t want the AML Bill passed.
“Why would a government shoot itself in the foot by going through all these measures, going to such great pains, if it was a question of it not really wanting it? I think those of us who scour the international media and the institutions associated with governance of the financial institutions would know that the consequences are dire for countries that do not fulfill certain best practices in respect of money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.”
Rohee used Belize (a country that was blacklisted with Guyana) as a comparative reference point and cited that their opposition eventually came around and supported the Bill. Rohee said that the government is not “pampazetting” with respect to the AML Bill. He said “in fact I think the opposition should be asked such a question, are they really interested in Guyana’s national interest, because it would seem to me that while in Belize the opposition eventually came around to the position when it said they may complain but they have to comply, I think that is quite applicable in our situation.”
The General Secretary said that what is happening is a case of “brinkmanship” where he said the opposition has something it wants to prove.
Rohee said that government spokespersons have spoken at length on AFC’s position “with which the Opposition is seeking to wrest from the hands of the government, that is to say, to remove the Cabinet from the whole question of no objections to contracts. This is a major concession you are seeking, to remove the Cabinet’s role from even foreign-funded projects and to put it in the hands of an unknown quantity, it is not a question of bargaining. Both cases have to be discussed on their merits and demerits and ought not to be linked.”
The General Secretary outlined that his party believes that “if the Opposition were to desist from their habitual procrastinating tendencies and were to endeavour to contribute meaningfully to nation-building, then the passage of legislation like the Anti-
Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act would be routine.”
He further stressed that the Opposition must commit to “putting the welfare of the nation above their own self-interest…Guyanese and all of civil society must demand no less.”
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