PPP wants to save its gravy train

Mar 02, 2014 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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– AFC says no to ‘no objection clause’

By Rajendra Bissessar

On the morning of the 22nd of February, approaching 8 a.m., I tuned in to NCN. What I saw immediately reminded me of what Minister Rohee complained about. He complained about the unbalanced coverage the Government was receiving from Stabroek News.
And I experienced the exact reverse, only it was 100% biased in favour of the government.
The programme was dealing with the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. It featured Minister Anil Nandlall and Minister Ashni Singh.
Nandlall spoke of the Amendment sought by APNU to have searches and accountability for monies in the possession of citizens amounting to 2 million or more. I hasten to say that I am not in favour of this amendment nor, as far as I am aware, is the leadership of the Alliance For Change.
Nandlall criticized APNU for not being able to, since 2009, come up with amendments to support its contention that the Bill needs to be strengthened. I am not here to defend APNU.
Ashni Singh also raised the matter and considered that it was contempt for the people that from 2009 to the present, only until recently APNU could not come up with its amendments. Singh emphasized that the Opposition since 2011 had the majority in Parliament and could have done so. He said the Opposition was contemptuous of the people.
Well this is indeed laughable, for the government had the majority from before 2009 to nearly the end of 2011 and the big question is: why did it not pass the amendments.
Singh went on to frighten the nation by saying that remittance companies may very well withdraw their services, and even those who maintain their services would have to raise fees, and the remittance would flow erratically and this would affect people who need the money to provide food, and to take care of other necessary expenditure. There is no indication that indeed this would be so.
What was indeed glaring here is the omission by NCN to bring on camera anyone from the Opposition, and so these two PPP leaders had a field day pedaling their distortions.
I will digress a bit to state that Ashni Singh recognizes that despite the growth levels they seem so proud about, after 21 years of PPP rule our people would suffer tremendously if Guyanese overseas do not offer welfare handouts to our people.
But having said that, I will point out that the PPP had the majority in parliament from the same 2009 that Ashni spoke about, so would we not consider, in light of the recognition of the hardships our people would face, that the PPP and Ashni Singh and Nandlall were contemptuous of the people as they did not utilize their majority to pass the amendments.
It seems that their very understanding of the hardships mentioned would have forced them to prioritise the passing of the said amendments.
The major question here is why did the PPP, with its built-in majority, not table and pass the amendments between 2009 and 2011.
Recently, out of the magical hat, Rohee pulled out a statement that the AFC does not want the AML Bill passed because it is tight with the drug lords and wants to protect them.
Well this may very well be the biggest joke of the year, as everyone knows of the development and expansion of the drug trade under the PPP/C government.
What is very noticeable is that although the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act was passed in 2000 by the PPP administration and assented to 14 years ago, it was never enforced.
We must be reminded that under international pressures the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of 2009 was enacted and assented to in August 2009. This also was never fully enforced. As there was not a single report, no investigations and no one was ever charged.
I am wondering that since Rohee, who is the Minister of Home Affairs, pronounced that there is a connection between the AFC and the drug lords, why he has not moved to investigate that connection.
I recall that the GRA sent its officers to seize the files from the offices of Khemraj Ramjattan and Moses Nagamootoo for investigation, so why were there no investigations of the so-recognizable overnight rags to riches persons?
Some of them travel with diplomatic immunity and so their suitcases are never searched.
The Financial Intelligence Unit was set up, but it has not been given the required resources, so it was never given the capacity to carry on its work.
Clearly the PPP/C Administration was in no hurry to consider legislative changes, even though it had a clear majority from 2001 to 2011. Clearly it postponed the tabling of the Amendment required by CFATF until the last moment and now that the non-passing of the Amendments would cause Guyana to be blacklisted and financial transactions would be subjected to stringent scrutiny its (PPP/C’s) money laundering friends are worried.
The AFC is of the position that money laundering is facilitated through the issue of contracts and so has demanded that the Procurement Commission, a constitutional requirement, be put in place.
This is another issue that betrays the PPP/C’s lack of interest in dealing with money laundering and corruption in general, it being part and parcel of the major corruption.
In 2003 the corruption was not so deep-rooted, and so the PPP took a position that was lauded.
It promoted the relinquishment of Cabinet’s authority over procurement matters. Now when the corruption has become deep-rooted, an admission by no other than his Excellency the President Donald Ramotar, it is backsliding and wants the opposition to agree to amend the act to put back the no objection clause that the party itself argued strongly should be removed.
The then Finance Minister, Sasenarine Kowlessar, uttered these words: “Mr. Chairman, I move the following amendment. Insert the following sub-section (6) to Clause 54 to read as follows: “Cabinet’s involvement under this section shall cease upon the constitution of the Public Procurement Commission”.
The PPP government promised that the Procurement Commission would be put in place immediately upon the assenting of the Act.
A few days ago the President is trying to get the vote of the AFC by saying he has two days before the deadline to do so.
Why did he not commence after the last deadline? And in any event, he knows the AFC will not give in to the ‘no objection’ by cabinet.
Today with the deep-rooted corruption, in the words of the leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan, “this Government now realises that its most sumptuous gravy train will be halted; and, secondly, so too will its shameless and blatant exercise of favouritism in the grant of contracts over $15M for materials, services and supplies come to an abrupt end”.
The AFC is willing to compromise and would amend the Act to allow Cabinet and others to bring their objections to the Procurement Commission to be considered.
If the PPP is serious about stopping money laundering and the deep-rooted corruption, it would agree to set up the constitutionally-required Procurement Commission, but recognizes that the way forward would require APNU to give the necessary two-thirds vote so all are involved.
The Private Sector, The Caribbean Secretariat and other international agencies and governments calling for the passing of the Amendments to the AML must also insist on the setting up of the Public Procurement Commission.

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