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PSC ‘blindly loyal’ to one political party – Timothy Jonas
PSC President, Paul Cheong
ANUG Chairman, Timothy Jonas
Kaieteur News – Chairman of the A New and United Guyana (ANUG) political party, Mr. Timothy Jonas, SC, has criticised the Private Sector Commission (PSC), headed by Mr. Paul Cheong, of being politically aligned.
Jonas made these comments last Wednesday while appearing virtually on a GlobeSpan24x7 panel discussion on ‘Civil Society-Government Relations: Opportunities and Challenges’.
Recently, the President Irfaan Ali-led government, lashed out at a group of civil society organisations, which in a statement to the media on March 2, concluded that the government was out of control, accusing it of operating with impunity, while noting that the bewildering pace and range of official decision-making is rendering the administration accountable to no one and generating a widely felt dilemma of who to trust and what to believe.
To this end, Jonas during the discussion contended, “They will paint with the same brush any dissenting voice, by saying all of you people are anti-PPP, you are not concerned with fairness or honesty.”
In further arguing his case, Jonas, an Attorney-at-Law who was named Senior Counsel (SC) after the People’s Progressive Party Civic assumed office in 2020, said that the party questions civil society bodies where their voices were while alleged riggers were trying to steal the leadership of a country, during the last elections. However, Jonas said the silence of those groups does not mean they are impartial.
In fact he said, “Those civil societies are, for the most part, in Guyana, badly flawed, because they are for the most part partisan, equally blindly loyal…equally ethnically aligned.”
While citing an example, Jonas said that the Private Sector Commission, in his view, falls neatly into that description as they are “blindly loyal, blindly aligned, don’t care a damn (and) going down one road with one party.”
On the other hand, he pointed out that Transparency International – Guyana Inc (TIGI) is a good example of what a civil body should exemplify. “I am also of the view that Transparency Guyana has equally demonstrated that it is not partial…” he related.
Wednesday’s discussion was moderated by Mr. Paul Tennassee. Other members of the panel included activist Vanda Radzik and businessman Floyd Haynes.
The political Opposition has frequently accused the PSC of being a supporter of the PPP government. For instance, the Coalition party’s Shadow Oil and Gas Minister David Patterson has said that the administration, given its coziness with the PSC, will have complete control over the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board of Directors as the new legislation paves the way for the private sector group to select a nominee to sit on the governance panel.
Section 5 (1) of the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 provides that there shall be a Board of Directors of the Fund which shall comprise of not less than three and not more than five members who shall be appointed by the President, one of whom shall be appointed Chairperson by the President. According to the act, the National Assembly and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) will be identifying one candidate each for the board, which leaves the President with three nominees.
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