Dunstan Barrow was selected for NRF Board through transparent process – Pres Ali

…says persons must respect parliamentary process

The name of Dunstan Barrow, the nominee of the National Assembly for the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board of Directors, emerged from a parliamentary process – one that should be respected by all.

This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, who was asked on the sidelines of a press conference on Sunday to respond to the criticisms that have come from the Opposition, against the Government’s nominee being selected last Wednesday.
Barrow, a former People’s National Congress (PNC) Member of Parliament, was nominated by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government. However, his nomination did not attract the approval of the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition, whose members stormed out of the Committee meeting.
“I was in Caricom when I saw this. But let me say this. Is the representative a PPP person? The parliamentary process is that a committee selects someone of standing in our country and in our society. That process brings out a name. It is not that the PPP supported a name that is a member or a Minister of the PPP. This is a former member of the PNC,” Ali said.

On the Government side, the names submitted had included Barrow, former Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Deputy Commissioner General Clement Sealey and diplomat Hamley Case. The APNU/AFC Opposition meanwhile had nominated Elson Low; Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram and former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Vincent Adams. Ali pointed out that there was nothing wrong with the Government’s nominations.

“Let’s focus for one moment on these three names. That tells you how much we want a one Guyana. Not PPP names. Three citizens of this country… I have no problems with the other names. But what is wrong with this name? This is not PNC and PPP. There’s a parliamentary process, in which a committee makes a decision. And we have to respect that.”
Meanwhile, in addition to Barrow’s nomination to the NRF Board, the Committee of Appointments also went ahead and approved the Government’s nomination of Clement Sealey to sit on the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee under the NRF Act.
With the nominees approved by the Committee of Appointments, the next step now is for a motion and draft report to be presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which would then have to make a decision whether to send the nominations to the floor of the National Assembly.
But according to a Government source, the PAC has been lagging on following the procedures to have the Appointment Committee’s recommendations meet the House. In fact, <<<Guyana Times>>> was also told that given that the five nominees from both the Government and Opposition sides were shortlisted and approved two meetings ago, the PAC is yet to submit the names to the Clerk of the National Assembly.
The three-to-five-member NRF Board is expected to be made up of mostly civil society representatives, with one nominee from the Private Sector and one from the Parliament. The other members are to be appointed by the President.
Section 5 (2) of the NRF Act provides that the Directors shall be elected from among persons who have wide experience and ability in legal, financial, business, or administrative matters.
However, Section 5 (10) of the said Act states that a person shall not be eligible for appointment as a Director if that person, inter alia, is a member of the National Assembly.
The NRF Act was passed in the National Assembly in December, amid chaos caused by the APNU/AFC Opposition, who did their utmost to disrupt the proceedings after the Bill was brought up for debate.
The Bill, which has since been assented to by President Ali, outlines that the Directors will hold the post for not more than two years, with eligibility for reappointment; and all appointments, as well as changes in appointments, are to be gazetted and published on the Ministry’s website and in two daily newspapers.
The new Bill states that the Board of Directors will be responsible for the overall management of the Fund, reviewing and approving the policies of the Fund, monitoring the performance of the Fund, ensuring compliance with the approved policies of the Fund, and ensuring that the Fund is managed in compliance with the Act and all other applicable laws.
Moreover, the Board is expected to report to the subject Minister, who is allowed to give policy directives as deemed necessary to their functions. In addition, the legislation caters for the appointment of two committees, one of which is the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee, which will provide non-Government oversight of the Fund and comprise various civil society representatives who will have to present a report to the National Assembly annually.