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Piecemeal information on decisions and revenue management ingredients for corruption- NRGI

Feb 01, 2025 News

…urges full transparency for citizens to hold Govt. to account

Kaieteur News-At a time when Guyanese are fed half-baked information with regard to the use of revenue earned from the production of oil and gas, the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), a non-profit organization, has flagged the importance of the provision of adequate information on decisions and revenue management.

In its latest Resource Charter, the Institute noted that where resource wealth is managed on behalf of citizens, it can lead to sustained prosperity, only if the government is publicly accountable.

NRGI said, “Ongoing scrutiny of behavior provides a strong deterrent against corruption and an incentive for improved performance across all levels of government. Furthermore, a national strategy of managing resource wealth will remain effective into the future only if this scrutiny ties present and future governments to the objectives they set themselves.”

Further, the Natural Resource Governance Institute noted that unlike many forms of economic activity, resource extraction and the management of revenues is often distant from the lives of the majority of citizens.

“The chain of decisions can be difficult to monitor, providing opportunities for corruption and a screen for poor management. An essential prerequisite for accountability is transparency.

However, piecemeal information is not sufficient. The government should disclose information about the whole chain of decisions, with a complete, complementary set of information,” NRGI recommended.

Locally, stakeholders continue to debate the need for the government to list the projects and programmes being funded by oil revenues.

Shadow Minister of Natural Resources, Shurwayne Holder, on the second day of the 2025 Budget debate, pointed out that the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh accounted for every dollar spent from the money received from Norway through the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

On the other hand, Holder observed that the government has blatantly refused to account for the hundreds of billions of dollars withdrawn from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF)- the country’s oil account.

To this end, the Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) said, “Mr. Speaker, they accounted to the Norwegians for their LCDS money but when it comes to our oil money, the PPP continues to violate their own law which they brought to this very House and approved by themselves in December 2021.”

 

Holder reminded the National Assembly that the NRF Act makes it clear that all withdrawals from the Fund shall be deposited into the Consolidated Fund and shall be used only to finance national development priorities and/or essential projects that are directly related to ameliorating the effects of a major natural disaster.

To this end, Holder reiterated calls from the Opposition for the government to state projects and programmes being funded through oil revenue.

Previously, the Chief Policymaker for the oil and gas sector, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, explained that it would be difficult to show how the resources garnered from the sector are utilized.

He noted that the government would only identify projects funded by oil money, which was withdrawn for emergency purposes.

(Piecemeal information on decisions and revenue management ingredients for corruption- NRGI)

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