PNCR infighting stalls legal challenge to ‘Oil Fund Act’

Mar 17, 2022 News

APNU+AFC Shadow Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Roysdale Forde SC.

Kaieteur News – From all indications, the coalition opposition is no closer to making good on its promise to file a legal challenge to the controversial Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act.
This is despite the call for the issue to be dealt with expeditiously. Kaieteur News has reached out to A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Shadow Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Roysdale Forde SC for an update as to the party‘s progress in filing the matter. Forde while noting that the court case is still on the cards for the APNU+AFC, the matter is not being “rushed”.
Forde told Kaieteur News that while the case is being examined and prepared for court by a team of highly qualified lawyers, he could not say exactly when the matter will be filed. “At the moment, we [the party] are looking at some other things,” Forde said as he noted that there are some issues that have to be worked out internally.
And though Forde gave no specifics as what the issues he referenced are, a source close to the party indicated that the People‘s National Congress /Reform which is the main component of the coalition opposition has been suffering from major infighting in recent months. The source noted that this has led to stymieing of many things on the party’s agenda, the legal challenge to the NRF Act, among them.
“So what we are seeing is a rift between members of the party and leadership of the PNC/R that started leading up to the elections and it seems to be ongoing; ultimately affecting the overall health and productivity of the party,” the source added. The parliamentary opposition has been mulling legal action over the NRF Act, which the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) forcefully passed through Parliament without proper consultation, last December.
Back then, Forde had promised to move to the Court to challenge the government’s rushed passage of the law. Added to this, a number of civil society organisations, including the recently formed Article 13, have expressed disappointment at the undue haste with which the government rushed the NRF Act through Parliament, which they believe opens the door for misuse, and without regard for the Santiago Principles, which set out the basic tenets of transparency and accountability in expenditure of oil funds.
The civil society group had pointed to the fact that under the new law, the governing administration removed several safeguards that allowed for transparency and placed the management of the oil fund largely under the control of the President and the Minister of Finance.
Under the new law, the President and Finance Minister, et al, are vested with sweeping powers to appoint members to sit on the NRF board. Already, with its majority on the Committee of Appointments, the PPP/C disregarded arguments by the opposition in favour of their nominees and settled on their own choice for the board. Additionally, the government has already signalled its intention to use some $126 billion from the oil account in this year’s budget.

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