This day in history: July 24

Jul 24, 2022 News

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Compiled by Zena Henry

 Guyana’s Finance Minister assures NRF safe in US Federal Bank

Kaieteur News – Guyana is still a developing oil producing nation and less than a year ago amended its Natural Resource Fund (NRF) law. The country for the first time had a NRF, and monies from the oil and gas sector are directly paid into that account, held in a United States Federal Reserve Bank.

On July 24, 2020, then Minister of Finance Winston Jordan reassured Guyanese that there is no need to be fearful of the lodging of the country’s oil revenue – the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) – in the United States Federal Reserve Bank. Persons had expressed reservation with the placement of Guyana’s NRF in a United States-based bank, given that there were threats of sanctions due to the political and electoral impasse in the country at the time. Minister Jordan informed that the placement of the Fund in a U.S. Bank is advantageous for Guyana, as it mostly reduces inflation, helps with interest earnings, and according to law, it must be placed in a US bank. The NRF Act Section 21 (1) states: “Petroleum revenues shall be directly paid into a bank account denominated in United States of America Dollars and held by the Bank as part of the Fund.”

The minister had noted that the Bank of Guyana (BOG) as the Operational Manager of the Fund oversees it according to the Operational Agreement and Investment Mandate. Therefore, BOG is directed to submit quarterly financial reports on the Fund to the Ministry of Finance, which in turn must present an annual report on the NRF to Parliament. It was said that the US dollar is the reserve currency used by almost every country and Guyana has trading relations with the United States as the domestic currency is also related to the U.S. currency. The Natural Resource Fund Bill 2018 was passed in the National Assembly with minor amendments on January 3, 2019. The Bill was first tabled in November 2019. (Guyana state media)

Nelson Mandela visits Jamaica

When Nelson Mandela stood to address Jamaicans on Jamaican soil at the National Stadium, his first words were, “This is the happiest day of my life!” The date was Wednesday, July 24, 1991, and perhaps only the excitement and euphoria of the visit of American President Barack Obama to Jamaica in April 2015 can be compared to this historic moment.

Mandela and his wife, Winnie, received an overwhelming welcome from Jamaicans, and were ushered into a full day’s schedule of activities: the unveiling of a plaque naming Mandela Park in his honour in Half-Way Tree, an address to the House of Representatives and Senate at Gordon House, a wreath-laying ceremony at National Heroes Park, a luncheon with CARICOM heads of government at Vale Royal.

To start his day, the then African National Congress (ANC) president attended a ceremony at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, where he received an honorary doctorate degree. Then it was off to Parliament, where Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the time, offered Jamaica’s “limited” resources to the ANC to help build a democratic system in South Africa after the ravages of apartheid. He said while the country couldn’t offer financial assistance, it could gladly lend assistance in the areas of political organisation, arrangement of restitutional law, training of cadres for government and training of professionals. “We may have little money,” The Gleaner quotes Manley as saying, “But we have abundant human skills and inexhaustible will to be your partners in building a free, unified, democratic South Africa.” He also told Mandela: “When you set foot on our soil, we’re welcoming one of the great symbols of courage and heroism in our time.”

A motion was brought before Parliament, and agreed on by Manley and then leader of the Opposition, Edward Seaga, to support the anti-apartheid struggle. The final event was a concert/rally held in the night at the National Stadium to honour Mandela and his wife. Noteworthy was the turnout of Rastafarians, who swarmed street sides along with other onlookers to get a glimpse or touch of the iconic African leader. This had not been witnessed since the visit of Emperor Selassie to Jamaica. Parents were hoisting children on their shoulders and over the heads of other onlookers in an effort to allow them to see the South African freedom fighter. Before Mandela’s arrival to the stadium, three persons were shot by police after unrest caused by persons in the bleachers trying to jump the fence to get on to the field. There were unconfirmed reports that one person died of the two men and one woman shot. At the concert, Mandela was invested with the Order of Jamaica (OJ), the highest honour a non-national can receive, by then acting Governor General Edward Zacca. There were also addresses by some CARICOM heads of states, and performances by some of Jamaica’s top-ranked musicians. (DigJamaica.com)

The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy takes effect

Kellogg-Briand Pact, also called Pact of Paris, (August 27, 1928), came into effect on July 24, 1929. It is a multilateral agreement attempting to eliminate war as an instrument of national policy. It was the most grandiose of a series of peacekeeping efforts after World War I.

Hoping to tie the United States into a system of protective alliances directed against a possible resurgence of German aggression, the French foreign minister, Aristide Briand, first suggested a bilateral nonaggression pact in the spring of 1927. The U.S. secretary of state, Frank B. Kellogg, prodded by the American “outlawry of war” movement and supported by those who were disappointed at the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations, proposed that the pact be converted into a general multilateral treaty, which the French accepted.

As a result of Kellogg’s proposal, nearly all the nations of the world eventually subscribed to the Kellogg-Briand Pact, agreeing to renounce war as an instrument of national policy and to settle all international disputes by peaceful means. The signatories allowed themselves a great variety of qualifications and interpretations, however, so that the pact would not prohibit, for example, wars of self-defense or certain military obligations arising from the League Covenant, the Monroe Doctrine, or postwar treaties of alliance. These conditions, in addition to the treaty’s failure to establish a means of enforcement, rendered the agreement completely ineffective. (Source: Britannica)

 

US court orders White House to release 200 tapes in notorious Nixon Watergate scandal

The Senate Watergate Committee voted unanimously on July 24, 1974 to subpoena over 200 White House tapes and documents related to its investigation. The committee acted less than 15 hours after winning statutory authority from Congress to seek help from the Federal courts in obtaining the material. Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr., the committee chairman, had expressed hope that “the White House will manifest its recognition of the fact that the committee engaged in a legal and constitutional activity” and accept and comply with the‐subpoena.

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon’s resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration’s continual attempts to cover-up its involvement in the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building. After five perpetrators were arrested, cash found on them at the time connected to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President. Investigations led the U.S. House of Representatives to grant the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary additional investigation authority to probe into the matter.

Several major revelations and egregious presidential action against the investigation later in 1973 prompted the House to commence an impeachment process against Nixon. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the Oval Office tapes to government investigators. The Nixon White House tapes revealed that he had conspired to cover-up activities that took place after the break-in and later tried to use federal officials to deflect the investigation. The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress.

 

 

 

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