Govt national development priorities

Oct 08, 2024 Editorial, News

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Kaieteur News – As Guyanese learn by way of announcement last week that government has transferred $62.3B more from the Natural Resources Fund bringing its total withdrawal to date for the year to $239.176B, questions continue to be asked what specific projects these funds have been used for.

The Ministry of Finance in a statement said that pursuant to the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act 2021, as amended by the Fiscal Enactments (Amendment) Act 2024, Parliamentary approval has been granted for US$1,586,150,331 (equivalent to G$329,885,563,088) to be withdrawn from the NRF in 2024. According to the ministry, in accordance with this approval, the Government of Guyana has made its fourth transfer for 2024, totalling US$300million (equivalent to G$62.394 billion) from the NRF on October 1, 2024, to the Consolidated Fund. This brings the accumulated withdrawals to date up to US$1.150 billion (equivalent to G$239.176 billion) within the total of US$1.586 billion (equivalent to G$329.9 billion) approved to be withdrawn in 2024.

Chairman of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jermaine Figueira in on record like several others calling for transparency when using Guyana’s oil money. He even cited the need for possible amendments to the Act.  Section 16.2 of the Act states that “All withdrawals from the Fund shall be deposited into the Consolidated Fund and shall be used only to finance: (a) national development priorities including any initiative aimed at realising an inclusive green economy, and (b) essential projects that are directly related to ameliorating the effect of a major natural disaster.”

To date, government has budgeted approximately US$2.6B in oil money through 2022 to 2024.  Revenues earned from oil are transferred to the Consolidated Fund, blurring tracks of expenditure. Government is yet to identify the “national development priorities” being funded by oil revenue. This is particularly concerning because the legislation features no penalties for misuse of the funds.

Figueira however, pointed to the need for transparency when using resources from the sector. He noted that the NRF Act is clear on how the funds should be spent. He said thus:” we require more specifics because the Act is very clear with regards to how those funds should be spent and if you just lump sum it into the consolidated fund we need to know definitely of those funds that were transferred into the consolidated fund that are they being used for the specific purposes with regards to what the Act speaks to.” We support Mr. Figueira’s calls because Guyanese politicians in government after government cannot resist stealing millions upon millions from road building, school construction, public works projects, along with many other areas where huge amounts of the taxpayers’ money had to be spent.  What they didn’t steal, they squandered recklessly, and they always made sure that they had help just as crooked as themselves.  Bureaucrats at senior levels in the public service were put in those positions to ensure that the corruption machinery hummed without interference.

 

The few honest, ethical public servants in the system were either reassigned or removed from where they could see how things are operating and, therefore, raise alarms, objections.  All of this was before the coming of Guyana’s Oil Age.  It is a fabulously rich oil age overflowing with promise, but also one that is laced with the human-originated devastations that drain away most of what it could represent, if handled cleanly and correctly. This is what local experts and even outsiders have warned this country about, how it should be careful, what is has to do.

Like Figueira this paper had warned before about the vagueness of withdrawing the oil money to fund “national development priorities.” National development priorities are broad enough to mean nothing, and a clever political verbal construction to house any amount of wastage for self-enriching projects, and any kind of crookedness concocted by perverted politicians. It is why the government ensured that most of the people around the NRF are from inside the PPP/C circle. It is an example of keeping all in the family, with all the likely political tricks condoned, all the smooth leadership cover-ups not mattering at all.

When Guyanese urgently need the highest level of integrity and accountability saturating every action of the NRF, they are given the equivalent of primarily party people. For something like the NRF, Guyanese would only get truth, cleanliness, and justice with a truly independent, and a truly international group without the ties that bind to any government in this country. Otherwise, it the same story of old skullduggeries operating under the not-so-new umbrella of “national development priorities” which were heard about before, and leave this nation where it has always been stuck. The what, why, who, and how are all left unasked and, hence, unknown.

(Govt national development priorities)

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• Editorial, Jermaine Figueira, Natural Resources Fund, oil money

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