NY-based democracy group throws support behind NRF, Local Content Acts

…Govt praised for acceptance of 10 of 14 Opposition amendments

The New York Democracy Group Project has become the latest organisation to throw its support behind the recently passed and assented Natural Resource Fund and Local Content Acts, noting that these developments will only serve to strengthen Guyana’s management of the oil and gas sector.
In the case of the NRF Bill, it was noted by the group that the old NRF Act No 12 of 2019 was full of loopholes that opened the door for the fund to be abused. As such, the new NRF Bill which was passed and assented to by President Dr Irfaan Ali last week, was necessary.

“Essentially, the main features of the PNCR bill remain intact, except for the governance structure. Unlike in the previous bill, the Minister of Finance would not have sole authority over the fund. A governance Board of Directors will be set up to manage the fund.”
“All funds will be placed in the Consolidated Account. The Minister of Finance could be jailed if he failed to make public the receipt and withdrawal of funds. And a formula is laid out for the allocation of oil revenues for budget support to promote development projects. These are laudable features,” the group further said.
It was further pointed out that the NRF Act, like the Local Content Bill, is a living document that can be changed over time. According to them, it is expected that the legislations will change, as both the Government and local investors increase their capacity in the oil sector.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government was also commended by the Group, for its magnanimous acceptance of 10 of 14 recommendations put forward by the main Opposition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC), for the Local Content Bill.
Among the amendments that the Opposition had proposed, was one allowing any Guyanese national whose application had been refused, to appeal to an independent review panel appointed by the subject Minister.
There was also an amendment for there to be a “Local Content Oversight Committee”. While this amendment was agreed to by the Government, it also decided to rename it the “Local Content Advisory Committee”.
Another accepted recommendation was for four additional agencies to be represented on the Committee. These include the National Toshaos Council; Guyana Bar Association; the Parliamentary Opposition; and representatives from local petroleum organisations.
Natural Resource Minister Vickram Bharrat also tabled an additional four amendments that include equal pay for qualified Guyanese, commensurate with what foreigners are being paid; and to increase the usage level of local services such as accounting and insurance from 20 per cent to 90 per cent, and 90 to 100 per cent, respectively.
The Natural Resources Minister explained that these latter changes were undertaken upon the realisation that there is capacity in the provision of these two services. He explained that similarly, the local content legislation will be updated overtime to reflect the changing circumstances in Guyana as the country continues to build capacity to service the oil and gas sector.
After hours of intense debate by dozens of speakers from both sides of the House, the PPP/C Administration’s historic Local Content Bill and NRF Bill were passed in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Both bills have since been assented to. While the Local Content Bill was assented to on Friday, the Head of State assented to the NRF Bill along with the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act on Thursday.
In objection to the passage of the NRF Bill, the APNU/AFC Members of Parliament started protesting in the House and this escalated into a confrontation between coalition MPs and Parliament staff after one of the Opposition Members snatched the Parliament Mace from in front of House Speaker Manzoor Nadir. This was in addition to blowing whistles while walking around in the pit of the Assembly and surrounding Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh as he was making his presentation.
The Opposition wanted to send both the NRF and Local Content Bills to a Parliamentary Special Select Committee for review. But their disruptive and confrontational behaviours were in vain and the PPP/C managed to pass both pieces of legislations.