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Widespread consultation necessary for success of SWF- Ramson
By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
Attorney at Law, Charles Ramson
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan’s response to United States Ambassador Perry Halloway’s statement on the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is unenlightened and short-sighted.
It is a reply to an issue of genuine interest and concern for Guyana’s sustainable development within the context of an oil and gas producer.
So said, Attorney at Law, Charles Ramson, as he spoke of the importance of an inclusionary approach to the establishment of an SWF.
Ramson, a former Member of Parliament (MP), is qualified to speak on the issue as he, almost a year ago, concluded his Masters in Oil and Gas Enterprise Management. His thesis actually focused on SWFs.
On Wednesday, Minister Jordan said that Holloway should exercise restraint in his pronouncements about Guyana SWF.
In an invited comment, yesterday, Ramson said that Jordan’s reaction to Holloway essentially tells him to “butt out of Guyana’s affairs if you don’t know”. It is a disappointing turn in what has been the development of a mature and mutually beneficial relationship with the United States.
Ramson said that the exchange raises the question about who is right in relation to how to approach the design and implementation of Guyana’s SWF.
Ramson said that studies indicate that one of the major mistakes countries make in relation to their SWF is taking a political partisan approach.
“Why is that a mistake? If from the beginning the major stakeholders, especially the political organizations, are not involved in its conceptualisation, legislative implementation, and operation then the moment that a new government assumes office they can and more than likely will change the rules that govern that SWF.
This will be done simply by majority vote in parliament or by executive order. But the bottom line is that the success of a SWF is critically dependent on continuity and legitimacy.
Ramson said that in order to ensure continuity of the governing rules and operation of a SWF, the relevant stakeholders especially the political organisations must be involved at the very beginning.
Ramson said, “In order to ensure legitimacy of a SWF, you need the public “buy in” because you are deciding how and when to spend the oil revenue and that “buy in” can only happen with education and consultation in a government driven process.”
The Attorney at Law said that the government cannot be too blind to see that if the public is left out of the process the SWF loses its legitimacy and they can then demand their new representatives change the SWF since they were left out of the process at the beginning.
It has to be baptised by the people of Guyana from the beginning and that occurs not just by a vote in parliament.
Ramson noted, “So far, we have seen no involvement from anyone other than the government, an IMF team and a Commonwealth team. Where are the Guyanese representatives and stakeholders? The revenue from Guyana’s oil belongs to all Guyanese. And our Constitution says that sovereignty belongs to the people of Guyana.”
Ramson said that the nation has already witnessed the government failing to meet its own commitments on the SWF. He noted that Minister Trotman had promised to have a draft laid in the National Assembly at the end of 2016 and we are now in March of 2018. “I had to ask a question at the PSC business summit in November 2017 what was the update on the SWF and we were then told it is now with the Ministry of Finance…In a democracy how a government does something is as important as or even more important than what it does.”
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