Government yesterday assured that the nominee selected by Parliament to sit on the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board will be one supported by both the Opposition and Government side of the House.
“We want to make sure we have somebody that has the confidence of both sides and we will aspire to do that,” Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told a press conference he hosted, alongside Parliament’s sitting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
“I assure you that we will try to get someone who has the support of both sides,” he promised.
The NRF legislation has proved controversial and the opposition made a raucous, failed attempt on December 29 to prevent its consideration and passage. It is unclear if opposition members of Parliament on the Committee on Appointments will take part in the deliberations.
Even if they did, the PPP/C has a majority on the committee and will be able to decide the candidate and it was to this end that Jagdeo said the PPP/C would get someone who has the confidence of the entire House.
The Vice President noted that there has been much criticism of the NRF law by some persons and believes that they are misinformed or have not compared it to what was crafted by the APNU+AFC.
He contended that the Board replaces having only a minister of finance vested with too much power, being responsible for the management of the fund.
The motion in the name of Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh was received on January 17 and is set to be moved to allow the Committee on Appointments to recommend a candidate for the Natural Resource Fund.
The motion is part of government’s rapid mobilisation to access oil revenues. Some US$607 million will be available this year but the architecture of the NRF must be in place first. The NRF is to be governed by a Board of Directors comprising not less than three and not more than five directors. One person is to be selected by the private sector and this process has already begun. Parliament will then have to consider the nominee put forward by the Committee on Appointments.
President Irfaan Ali can appoint up to three members of the NRF in his own deliberate judgment and this has sparked consternation. The members of the board have to be selected from among persons who have wide experience and ability in legal, financial, business, or administrative matters.
