It will be pressure fuh so!

Mar 23, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Someone or some group(s) recently placed a full-page, paid advertisement seeking to explain the various sides to the controversy over the non-passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill.
As part of that advertisement, there is a road map indicating that the Bill can be passed within days. This road map is the most ambitious ever in the history of Guyana. It seeks to achieve the near impossible.
It is highly unrealistic. The road map provides for the PPPC to submit its nominees for the Public Procurement Commission by the 21st March. Three days later, the road map caters for the Public Accounts Committee to select the members of the Commission; and three days following, the National Assembly by two-thirds majority to approve the members of the Commission. It is, according to the road map, that simple.
Well sorry, it is not that simple! Does anyone seriously expect that the Public Accounts Committee can within a matter of days reach agreement on the constitution of the members for the Procurement Commission?
Not in Guyana’s highly divisive political environment. The selection of the members of the Commission is going to require months of debate discussion and negotiations. And when the PAC does decide, there is absolutely no guarantee that the two-thirds majority will be had in the National Assembly.
That road map is a non-starter. It will lead us in a mire.  It raises false hopes. Its timelines are impossible. There is no way that there is going to be any agreement in the shortest possible time over the nominees to the Public Procurement Commission. The opposition parties are likely to hold firmly to their selections and the government the same. Breaking the deadlock will take months.
This is why tying the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill to the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission was always going to run Guyana into problems. It is the National Assembly that has to approve of the Commission, not the government, and that process was always going to be highly contentious and divisive, whether or not there was an anti-money laundering Bill.
The pressure is mounting on the opposition parties to stop playing politics with the future of Guyanese. When the sanctions hit Guyana, it is not the parliamentarians that will feel its effects more. It will be the business community and the small man. The blow on the small man will be double because whatever effect the businessman will face, he will likely pass it off on hapless consumers. It will be pressure fuh so!
A fundamental principle is being ignored. When it comes to Guyana’s external obligations, once there is no objection to these obligations, there should be no horse trading. You cannot use an issue such as the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill to secure political concessions. It is morally repugnant to do so. It is also wrong, because a country’s reputation should not be staked on an internal political gambit.
There are many politicians in the Russian parliament who are against Vladimir Putin and his government. But faced with sanctions by the international community, these politicians are not going to try to gain political capital in the face of external aggression and pressure being brought against their country.
Unfortunately, in Guyana the opposition parties are not prepared to see Guyana’s compliance with its international obligations to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force as being outside of partisan politicking. They know that the government is desperate to have the legislation passed and they want to use this opportunity to extract maximum political gain for themselves. In so doing, they are hurting the country and particularly the small man.
Let it be recalled that Guyana’s exchange rate went up the last time this Bill was not passed. If Guyana’s misses another deadline, the Guyana dollar will further depreciate, and this will mean greater pressure on the small man. Right now, the business community is nervous and some of them are stockpiling foreign exchange because they are uncertain as to how, if sanctions are imposed, they will be able to pay for their supplies in a timely manner.
Some business persons are also seeing the possibility of financial killing. They know that once sanctions are imposed on Guyana, the exchange rate will climb and so if they buy now, they can sell back at a higher rate. This is placing more pressure on the Guyana dollar.
While all of this is happening, we have unrealistic road maps. The one road map that perhaps will solve this problem is not being mentioned. If elections are called within the next three months, it will end once and for all this gamesmanship with the future of Guyana.  That is the road map that no one is drawing up.

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