Dear Editor,
The average citizen, preoccupied with Covid and the day-to-day struggle, may well wonder at all of the fuss over the recent passage of the Natural Resource Fund Bill. I have said, repeatedly, that the influx of oil funds represents a sustained stress test of Guyana’s fledgling democracy. The drafting, processing and passage of the Natural Resource Fund Bill 14 (of 2018) and the amended version (Bill 20 of 2021) show the limits of democracy in Guyana: we fell at every hurdle.
To elaborate:
1: Conception and design: Despite advice from various august international institutions, the National Resource Fund (NRF) Bill No. 14 of 2018 seemed determined to concentrate power in the hands of the Finance Minister. The dangers of such an approach are evident: it put the Minister effectively in control of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund.
2: Consultation: there was extensive consultation locally. However, this appeared to be a largely cosmetic exercise as many of the flaws in the original bill were not modified.
3: Passage: The NRF Bill was tabled in the National Assembly on 15th November 2018, passed on 3rd January 2019 and assented to on 23rd January 2019. The APNU+AFC Government fell on 21st December 2018.
4: Amendments: The Natural Resources Act (Amendment) Bill 20 of 2021 was tabled by the current administration in the run up to Christmas 2021. The amendments appear to concentrate power in the hands of the President and to remove checks and balances to prevent rapid depletion of the fund.
5: Consultation before passage of the Natural Resources Act (Amend-ment) Bill 20 of 2021: there was no consultation.
6: Passage: the Natural Resources Act (Amendment) Bill 20 of 2021 was passed without debate or scrutiny by the National Assembly, without referral to the Natural Resources Parliamentary Committee for review and in apparent defiance of Article 13 of our Constitution.
The ancillary antics of the Oppo-sition (attempted removal of the mace – an act of singular Freudian significance worthy of a thesis) should not distract us from the essence of what has now happened (twice). Successive administrations, each with the slenderest of majorities, have deliberately sought to impose a deficient document on the populace. The former did so at a time when it had lost legitimacy in the eyes of many Guyanese. A few days ago, the current administration dispensed with democratic norms (consultation, debate, deliberations) in pursuit of the same goal. This, in essence, is the significance of the Natural Resource Fund Bill. It is a litmus test of our democracy – and our democratic process has been repeatedly subverted by both administrations.
Whatever obtains right now in Guyana, it is not a functional democracy.
Yours faithfully,
Isabelle de Caires
