The politics of “no” that has characterized the 10th Parliament is hampering and undermining many important projects that have the potential of accelerating economic growth and enhancing the quality of life of Guyanese, President Donald Ramotar has said.
In his Independence Day speech for delivery at midnight, the President said that there is much to celebrate and the momentum achieved at the end of 2011 could have allowed the country to go even faster in the last two years if there had been greater cooperation amongst the parliamentary political parties in the National Assembly. Guyana is celebrating its 48th Indepen-dence Anniversary today.
Ramotar spoke on the developments that Guyana has seen over the past year and emphasized the effect that parliamentary infighting is having on the country. He pointed out that Guyana could be blacklisted by countries as a result of the country’s failure to enact anti-money laundering amendments to the law. The president noted that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) will review Guyana today.
“How can we speak about fighting corruption and narco-trafficking and refuse to pass the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) and CFATF compliant Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism bill? And in blocking such a bill coming to the House they have exposed Guyana to being blacklisted by the international community with all the consequences that will follow,” Ramotar said. “As we meet tonight (last night) the Guyana delegation is on their way to the CFATF meeting which will review Guyana on our independence