Following the nomination by PPP/C MPs of Hamley Case, Dunstan Barrow and Clement Sealey for one of the seats on the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board, the opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) will be making its own submissions today.
This was disclosed by chairman Aubrey Norton yesterday at a press conference. Originally, APNU+AFC Chief Whip Christopher Jones had said that the opposition would not participate in nominating as it did not think the NRF bill had been legitimately passed. This was position was later rejected by the Alliance For Change (AFC) which said it would participate in the process. Yesterday, Norton said that APNU would also participate.
“In the circumstance, we have got to ensure we have people there to scrutinise what is happening. And in that regard, we have agreed that we will nominate people while at the same to protest and signalling that we intend to challenge it [the NRF Bill] in court.”
But with government having the majority on the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments responsible for voting on the nominees and having already submitted three names of their own for the post, the opposition is not optimistic that any of their nominees stand “a fighting chance” in the process.
Sources close to the process told Stabroek News that government will be choosing the highest number of members as prescribed by law and President Irfaan Ali will soon select three persons to add to the parliamentary selectee and the person nominated by the private sector.
Sources have also disclosed that the President wants the Board “expeditiously” appointed and has asked representatives to ensure that the selection processes for the private sector and parliament be swift.
But while government members of the Committee on Appointments expect the opposition’s nominees to be submitted today and have threatened that the process will go on with or without the names, the opposition is hoping to make another plea in an attempt to persuade them to publicly advertise for persons.
“We are asking for one week. One week is not too much to ask for something as serious as this. This is dealing with the spending of the nation’s money from oil. Why in the interest of transparency they cannot extend for one week?” an opposition MP asked.
The MP informed that government seems to want to “micromanage and direct the process of selection” and seems “hell bent on control of every area for this fund” as it has already submitted three names for the parliamentary representative on the Board.
Shot down
When the proposal was put to the Committee on Appointments for the post of parliamentary representative on the Natural Resource Fund board to be advertised publicly so that the committee might have a wider pool of professionals to choose from, the proposal was “shot down” by PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira, one source said.
It was then that AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan made it known that his party will not support any of the three persons nominated by the PPP/C.
“They boast that there will be a representative chosen by the Parliament but they seem to still want to control who that person is because they submitted Hamley Case, Dunstan Barrow, and Clement Sealey. Their lead, Ms. Teixeira (Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira) said that one of those three will also be sitting on the NRF Committee. So they selected three persons for the two positions and with them having the majority votes here, they will most likely get their way. How is that fair?” a source asked.
“Our nominees don’t stand a fighting chance in this process and this is all just for the optics; to say ‘look we went to the parliament and made a choice. But the parliament is PPP/C controlled and the PPP will choose who it wants. So don’t bother with all that ‘it will be this and that’, this is Guyana and this is politics and you, me, and anyone else could just take a seat,” another source contended.
Norton did not say more on the selection process yesterday and Ramjattan said that he could not speak on what happens during committee meetings publicly.
Young professionals
However, he declared that he wants it made public that he believes that there must be provisions for young professionals to take up key oil & gas sector posts as it is the “youth of this country that has the biggest stake in this.”
“We have to groom our youth so they are equipped with the skillsets necessary to manage this sector efficiently. We cannot say they don’t have the experience when we are not allowing them opportunity to gain that experience. My point is simple: If you have someone out of UG applying for a job and everywhere wants 10 years’ experience. Does he have to wait ten years to get a job? How will he learn? We have to do better for our young people. Goodness! This very Board needs young people we can train and groom. This is a new sector to us and they have to pass on that knowledge,” Ramjattan stressed.
“Don’t get me wrong, I am not condemning the old because they have vibrant ones that can pass on a wealth of knowledge. I am saying that more needs to be done to include youth on these Boards and committees, especially in the oil and gas sector,” he added.
Of the three men submitted by the PPP/C, Barrow is a former parliamentarian for the PNC and under the Donald Ramotar administration had been appointed Chairman of the Linden Enterprise Network.
Sealy served as the Deputy Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) up to 2015 when the APNU+AFC administration took office and did not have his contract renewed. When the PPP/C took office in 2020 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of G-Invest. It is unclear if he is still on that Board.
Case, who has had close ties with the PNC, was formerly Guyana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. This newspaper understands that he played a pivotal role in the Guyana/Ghana partnership in the oil & gas sector.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has assured that the nominee selected by Parliament to sit on the Natural Resource Fund 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,” Jagdeo had last month told a press conference.
“I assure you that we will try to get someone who has the support of both sides,” he promised.
