Accounting for oil money spending

Jul 16, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – How about some specifics, Dr. Ashni Singh on how the oil money was spent? How about some transparency and accountability, Excellency, Dr. Ali, with what Guyanese got for US$607 million withdrawn from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) in 2022? How about a little light Vice President, Dr. Jagdeo, on where all that GY$120 billion in oil money went?

The record is that the protective arrangements in place for the management of the NRF have been characterized by official tardiness, and political crudeness. As time has elapsed, confirmations flow about how much the PPP/C Government is bent on cooking the goose of Guyanese to a bitter crisp. What is not delayed ends up being not spoken of, and cleverly avoided. The NRF itself was passed in controversy, and assented to in darkness. It was the first indication of what the PPP/C Government and its tricksters had in mind. Among such was secrecy, a lack of convincing answers (or ignoring questions altogether), and playing around with what had to be delivered to the people.

The minister who has responsibility for the nation’s monies, proudly spoke of NRF withdrawals being used for “national development priorities”. We have no disagreement with such thinking. There is only the condition that the details about specific amounts of spending, specific projects, and specific timeframes are all linked and presented to the public in the clearest, cleanest manner. Guyanese grow impatient with being forced to wait for some insights on how the precious NRF withdrawals have been spent.

“National development priorities” are too broad and too vague; a truckload of skullduggery could be concealed under such an umbrella. This is classic PPP/C Government money management, and the impenetrable layers of darkness that leading figures in the government love so much.

To check on the spending, as claimed, an audit report was due months ago. Today, in the middle of July, nobody is saying anything about where that stands, who has it, and what it reveals, if completed. An annual report ought to have been prepared for laying in parliament, but there is also no official word on the state of that, and when that document and the follow-up parliamentary step will come to life.

The NRF has a Board of Directors, and it is becoming more obvious daily to Guyanese that that is a phantom construction, only there for the show, and directors’ best value is to keep their mouths tightly shut. It was and remains reasonable to expect that these directors would be cavalrymen leading the way with strength, truth, and determination about everything that has to do with NRF management and spending.

At this time, Guyanese question the relevance of those who should be feared guardians (the directors) with a fierce commitment to standing vigilantly over this vital, but tempting, fund. The concerned in Guyana watches and waits, with a thought in their minds: is the board of directors now reduced to a cart being carried along, willingly or unwillingly, for a ride by the usual PPP/C schemers and scoundrels?

The bottom line is that there is this NRF receiving deposits in New York, and there are withdrawals totaling over US$607 million in 2022. After that, the rest is a mystery, with nothing but a wildfire of silence. In the regular PPP/C Government manner, all the seemingly proper steps and possible protections are on paper, and in place. There are also the old traditional practices of what is actually happening, not matching up with what the paper requirements (legal) say they must be. It does not surprise that there is this shabbiness, these ongoing mysteries about the deep black hole in which oil money disappeared. There is nothing that is new when the past and present records of different governments are examined.

The one thing that is new is this oil money. How it is spent, and with the finest point placed on honest, accountable spending and reporting, determines the prosperity of this nation. Fail at that, and Guyanese stare at continuing poverty. To say “national development priorities” is not good enough. To assert “national development priorities” is not acceptable, and never will be. It is a scheme that has possible premeditated political felonies written all over it.

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Dr. Ashni Singh, Natural Resource Fund (NRF), official, specifics, tardiness

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