The AFC last night demanded that the PPP/C name its nominees to the Public Procure-ment Commission and it chided the private sector for being vocal on amendments to the anti-money laundering legislation but not on the setting up of mandatory constitutional agencies.
In the latest salvo over Guyana meeting a May 27 deadline for the amendments to avoid being blacklisted, the Alliance For Change (AFC) said it had taken note of the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s (GCCI) position on the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill.
The AFC has declared it will not support the amendments unless the government puts the procurement commission in place and President Donald Ramotar reverses his decision not to assent to two bills passed with the opposition’s one-seat majority. Both the PSC and the GCCI have since called on the opposition to work with the government for the passage of the legislation to avert the blacklisting of Guyana which they argued will have a severe impact on a broad range of financial transactions and services.
The AFC in its statement last night said that it is “as deeply concerned as the PSC, the GCCI and other organisations about the potential blacklisting of Guyana. However, this concern is overshadowed by the Govern-ment’s repeated opposition to the establishment of constitutionally mandated organs like the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) coupled with His Excellency’s pro-mised and delivered obstruction to the legislative agenda of the majority of its citizens.
“The lack of enthusiasm to repeated calls for good governance, greater transparency and a commitment to greater overview of the use of taxpayers’ money by the Executive, long ago brought this nation to crisis status, and to permit the continued degradation of and crisis in governance of this country is simply unacceptable and irresponsible.
“The AFC takes this opportunity to repeat its disappointment at the urgency which some sectors of the country have recently found to express their concern about the detrimental effects on the nation state, and notes the absence of similar intensity and concern about the establishment of mandatory constitutional bodies and assumption of judicial office by his Excellency when he pronounced on the legality of the `opposition bills’”.
The AFC said that the government had failed to establish the PPC in the 9th Parliament and appeared unwilling to set it up in the current 10th parliament.
“This is unacceptable and the AFC demands that the PPP submit the names of their nominees to the Commission, as an act of good faith to energize any alternative AFC position on this Money Laundering Bill”, the AFC said. The PPC has been on the agenda for more than a decade but the PPP/C and the PNCR had failed to agree on it. With the opposition majority in Parliament, the AFC also has an opportunity to forward nominees to the PPC and had publicly declared that it was proposing chartered accountants Christopher Ram and Anand Goolsarran.
“The AFC seeks to remind everyone that the Govern-ment was fully aware since May 2011 that the Money Laundering Amendments were required when the Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) on Guyana was adopted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). Unfortunately since then, Guyana was placed on the `expedited follow-up list’ which required that they report on the progress they have made in implementing the recommendations of the MER at every plenary session of CFATF.
Since May 2011, Guyana was cited on three occasions for minimal progress”, the party declared.
The AFC said it is of the view that one of the best methods of rooting out money laundering is by choking off the “illicit proceeds” which come from many sources including contracts improperly awarded at amounts several times the real market value. It said that if the PPC was established it would go a far way in eliminating these illegally earned funds thereby contributing to less money being laundered.
