Ghana assists Guyana to fine tune Local Content Bill for Parliament

Nov 06, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Guyanese, with the help of their Ghanaian counterparts, have extracted several provisions of Local Content legislation from a number of countries which is to be inserted as part of the domestic version of a Local Content Bill—slated to be tabled, debated and voted on in the National Assembly before the end of the year.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall (Centre) along with Minister Vickram Bharrat (to his Left) during the meeting with the Ghanaians and local technical and legal officers

This came about on Wednesday last, when technical staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE) and the Attorney General Chambers met with a delegation from Ghana. The team comprised of Benjamin Asante, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Gas Company, Kwaku Boateng, Director of Local Content, Petroleum Commission and Abraham Mensah, Snr. Technical Manager, Ghana National Gas Company.
The delegation met with the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, and a team of lawyers at the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Vickram Bharrat and a technical team from his Ministry also attended the meeting.
According to a subsequent statement from the Ministry, the meeting evaluated Guyana’s draft Local Content Bill and compared it with the Ghanaian legislation, as well as legislation in Nigeria, Uganda and Norway.
To this end, the visiting delegation offered practical guidance, as well as insightful recommendations.
According to the Attorney General Chambers, “various components of the Bill were discussed and critically examined, with segments from the various legislations extracted and made part of the local Bill.”
Additionally, it was announced that a local legal committee was established by the Attorney General comprising of lawyers and drafters from the Attorney General’s Chambers, persons from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and officials of the MNRE.
It was pointed out that “this team will spearhead Guyana’s pursuit of legislative changes in the oil and gas sector” and that “it was agreed that this team and the visiting delegation will continue to collaborate and work closely in helping to develop a modern and effective Local Content Bill, and will continue to collaborate on other matters relating to the legislative infrastructure of the oil and gas industry.”
Meanwhile, upon the request of the Attorney General, the Ghanaian delegation promised to send academic writings, as well as court rulings on their legislation, which will be used to guide Guyana’s efforts
Minister Nandlall used the opportunity in welcoming the delegation to Guyana to express his gratitude to the team “for offering their assistance, experience, guidance and expertise, in respect of the oil and gas sector generally, and, more specifically, on the issue of local content.”
Also present at the meeting were G. Bobby Gossai Jr., Snr. Petroleum Coordinator, Martin Pertab, Snr. Petroleum Economist, Joanna Simmons, Snr. Legal Coordinator, Visal Satram, Legal Officer and Michael Munroe, Legal Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, as well as members of the Oil and Gas sub-committee at the Chambers of the Attorney General, which comprised of Ronetta Sargent, Arti Outar, Janet Ali, Ayana Fable and Debra Singh.
Meanwhile, the African Caribbean Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry—a body focused on improving trade between Africa and the Caribbean Region with its headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana—in a subsequent missive welcomed “the expansion of relations between Guyana and the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent.”
It said the African Caribbean Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry reiterates “the enormous opportunities to improve trade between Guyana and the wider Caribbean with countries on the African Continent.”
As such, the Chamber in commending the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, for his commitments towards working with Guyana and the Caribbean Region, outlined that “the framework for exchanges between Guyana and Nigeria is already established through the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps—a framework for the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between Nigeria and…African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.”

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