Even as the nation awaits word from President Irfaan Ali on the composition of the Natural Resource Fund Board, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) has launched a formal call for nominees from all of its sectoral bodies and corporate representatives.
“We sent out to the council for nominations. The council comprises all the sectoral bodies and corporate representatives,” PSC Chairman Paul Cheong told this newspaper on Thursday evening.
The PSC earlier held two meetings and Cheong has said that the issue was on the agenda to be discussed regarding modalities.
The Private Sector will have one representative on the board.
Already, the George-town Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has begun receiving nominees and will decide on its nominee this week, its President Timothy Tucker said.
On December 30, 2021, President Ali assented to the controversial Natural Resource Fund Bill, paving the way for the extraction of the entire amount to be deposited in the Consolidated Fund for budgetary use. On December 31, 2021, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for finance Dr Ashni Singh promulgated an order setting the commencement date for the Act as January 1, 2022.
Government now has access to US$607.6 million to spend this year from the fund. The Bank of Guyana Report on the NRF for the month of December showed that the closing balance of the account was US$607,646,570.
President Ali on Tuesday said the nation would be surprised at how soon the board would be constituted although he skirted questions on how he would select its members and failed to give any insight into how many persons would comprise the board. .
The Act states that there will be no less than three and no more than five persons on the board. Section 5(2) speaks about who the directors shall be, explaining that they “…shall be elected from among persons who have wide experience and ability in legal, financial, business or administrative matters, one of whom shall be nominated by the National Assembly and one of whom shall be a representative of the private sector.”
It means that the President can select one director and possibly three in his own deliberate judgement.
It is unclear what mechanism will be used to select the parliamentary nominee.
The law does not stipulate who determines the eligibility of the directors for selection. This has been a point of contention since the government published the bill and a point that it has consistently failed to address during its defence campaign.
When asked about whether he has commenced the process of selecting the directors, the President on Tuesday said that he has been looking at names and that the appointment of the board is considered to be a matter of urgency.
Following his response on the examining of names for the board, Stabroek News pressed to get clarity as to where the members would be coming from.
President Ali responded “I am the President. I am entrusted with a responsibility. I was elected by the people of this country and if I was elected by the people of this country, I was elected based on a programme, on the manifesto that I have to implement because that is a social contract between myself and the people. I think that the people have entrusted me with responsibility and I intend to execute (that) responsibility with great honour, dignity and integrity and you would see that in the board.”
