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Patterson says Opposition received no ‘invite’ to Draft Local Content Policy Consultation
AFC’s David Patterson.
Kaieteur News – Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, David Patterson, yesterday disclosed that the Opposition received no invitation to the draft local content policy consultations which started on Monday at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC).
Patterson gave this answer in response to questions posed by Kaieteur News during an Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference yesterday.
“The Opposition was not even invited to the consultations to make a presentation on our views on it. We were not even given an advanced copy of the policy,” he stated.
With the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition representing over 200,000 of Guyana’s voting population, one would have expected to see it being represented at the consultation.
Patterson said too that despite the political differences with the coalition party, the government should have invited it (APNU+AFC) to make a meaningful presentation at the forum.
Nevertheless, Patterson explained that the Opposition is reviewing the policy and had intentions to hold similar consultations.
“We will make our comments known and enshrined and maybe forward them via the National Assembly as a notice paper to the Minister since obviously the government has not seen it fit on no front whatsoever to engage the Opposition,” he added.
Continuing, the Shadow Oil and Gas Minister revealed that the Opposition will also prepare a draft policy with comments to be submitted to the National Assembly.
President Irfaan Ali and the Vice President had led consultations on the draft policy on Monday at the ACCC.
The policy seeks to ensure each Guyanese, regardless of race, religion or sex, is well-positioned to benefit the most from their oil wealth. Put another way, this means, Guyanese must have preferential treatment in the award of contracts for goods and services in the sector. They must also be given opportunities for training and employment, and there must be a transfer of technology to support capacity building in the industry and beyond.
The consultations will continue throughout this month. The policy can be found on the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website (www.nre.gov.gy).
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