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Hours after oil law passed, Ashni Singh signed Order to start withdrawing
Kaieteur News – One day after Head of State, President Irfaan Ali, signed into law the Natural Resource Fund Act, Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, signed the official Order, bringing the Act into operation.
Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh
The contentious Natural Resource Fund Bill of 2021 was approved during a raucous session of the National Assembly on December 29, last.
The President a few hours later ‘secretly’ assented to the Bill on December 30, while calling in the press, private sector and other stakeholders to witness the assent of a second Bill, the Local Content Bill, into law on December 31.
On that day too, Dr. Singh, according to the Official Gazette’s publication of Friday December 31, 2021—Old Year’s Day, the final day of the year—signed the Commencement Order No. 34 of 2021 bringing the new law into operation.
According to the Commencement Order signed by Dr. Singh, “I appoint the 1st Day of January, 2022 as the date on which the Natural Resource Fund Act shall come into operation.
The President, during the public assent of the Local Content Bill on that day, or in his New Year’s address to the nation, did not indicate the bringing into force of the NRF Act in order to access the funds therein currently standing at some US$534M.
With the Commencement Order, another hurdle has now been cleared for the government to utilise as much as 100 percent of the funds in the NRF, held in the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
This obtains, even as opposition members continue to publicly lament their perceived illegitimate passage of the Bill in the National Assembly, since the Mace—the symbol of the Speaker’s authority—was not present in its assigned position, nor were all members of the Government seated during the vote.
This position was dispelled as inaccurate by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir—who on the day the President signed the Bill into law—at an impromptu press engagement at the public buildings with the Clerk at his side, defended as lawful the passage of the NRF Bill.
He argued his position saying, on his ascension to office, he had foreseen the need for a replica Mace, and it was made.
He went on to explain that in Parliamentary and other Westminster systems of government, such as in the United Kingdom and Canada, “they have two Maces.”
To this end, the Speaker told media operatives, “we have two Maces also” and went on to explain that when he ascended to that office, he had set about exploring preparations for any likely occurrences to be had in the National Assembly.
Dr. Ashni Singh, according to the Official Gazette’s publication of Friday December 31, 2021 — Old Year’s Day, the final day of the year — signed the Commencement Order No. 34 of 2021 bringing the new law into operation.
One such decision taken, according to Nadir, “was to have another Mace, in the event the traditional Mace could not be found to put in place whenever parliament sits; we have another Mace.”
As such, he said it was the smaller Mace, the replica, that had been made, which was used during the session in question.According to Nadir, the Mace was in place “shortly before I put the question on the NRF.”
He said too, “I called for members to take their seats, since MPs are only permitted, under the standing orders to vote from their seats in Parliament.”
He was, as such, insistent that the two ingredients necessary for lawful passage of Bills were present — a Mace was in place and that the vote was taken while the government members were in their seats.
The main opposition, the coalition A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) subsequently called on the Speaker, to produce the list of Members of Parliament (MPs) who voted in favour of the new Natural Resource Fund Bill.
In an interview with this publication, attorney-at-law and MP, Roysdale Forde, explained that the Speaker of the House has laid out the grounds for the passage of the Bill to be challenged legally, during his own press conference last Thursday.
Despite this position, the Bill has been assented to, a Commencement Order bringing into Force has been signed, and all have been published in the Official Gazette, meaning, each ingredient has been met for the new law to be used as passed, until a successful challenge can be made, either in the courts or the National Assembly.
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