Pres Ali exposes Opposition’s “egotistical arrogance” on NRF

…says Opposition’s criticism based on discrediting PPP/C, not the truth

The parliamentary Opposition’s recent advocacy on issues such as the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) has been slammed by President Dr Irfaan Ali as based on nothing more than discrediting the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) while ignoring inconvenient truths.

During a broadcast on Wednesday, the Head of State branded the Opposition as exhibiting egotistical arrogance and wilful ignorance. For instance, the Opposition led by the Alliance For Change (AFC) has been questioning the Government’s handling of the NRF and raising questions over its transparency.
According to President Ali, however, it was the Opposition who first passed a deficient NRF Act that, among other things, did not require the Government to disclose when oil funds came in. These were things that the PPP/C Government fixed in the NRF Act of 2021, notwithstanding Opposition efforts to block its passing.
“There was no requirement in that Act to publish deposits into the fund. Can you imagine that? None of us would have known about the deposits in that fund. Remember the $18 million bonus? Yes, that was what they were contemplating. To hide from the public the deposits into the Fund. So, that Act had weak governance and non-existent transparency.
“In the new Act, all deposits were not only required to be published in the official gazette, but also tabled in the National Assembly. And further, no expense can be met without prior approval. So, whereas in their illegitimate passing they removed the role of the Parliament, today the Parliament reviews every expenditure. The Parliament approves every expenditure,” he said.
To make matters worse, Ali noted that the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) passed the fund at a time when they had fallen to a No Confidence Motion (NCM) and, constitutionally, should have resigned.
“Through convenience of conscience, I want to remind them and the population, of who these persons are. What they embody. What they support. Of who are the characters. In every movie, every script, there are characters.
“Some fictional, some real. But I would like to examine the real characters that have somehow found their voice of convenience, that is not based in truth or facts or law or reality. It is based on a convenience of conscience, aimed at one thing. Discrediting this government,” the Head of State added.
Businessman Terrence Campbell, the Opposition’s representative on the NRF Investment Committee, has been critical about the fund’s management. However, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has dismissed Campbell’s criticism as politically motivated.
“He says he’s an independent voice, but let’s examine how independent he is. He was the Opposition PNC’s nominee to the investment committee. Is that independence? This is another pretence; people who are intensely political trying to gain some sort of acceptance and credibility by portraying themselves as erudite and independent,” Jagdeo had said.
As of this year, as much as 60 per cent of all of Guyana’s revenue from the oil and gas sector has been saved in the NRF. Recently, the Vice President had recently confirmed that less than half of Guyana’s oil revenue so far has been spent.
As of September, US$3.2 billion ($665 billion) remained in the NRF. This year, the NRF received inflows from six oil lifts from the Liza Unity, Liza Destiny and Prosperity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, four of those lifts occurring in the third quarter.
The funds in the NRF have their origins in the oil-rich Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where US oil major ExxonMobil and its partners – Hess Corporation and CNOOC – are producing light sweet crude using the Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and more recently, the Prosperity.
In 2022, for the first time, Guyana used oil funds to finance a national budget. In fact, in 2022, the Government withdrew a total of $126 billion (US$607.6 million) in three tranches from the NRF, which went towards financing Guyana’s national development plans.
In 2023, US$1.002 billion was withdrawn to finance national development priorities. The last of eight withdrawals for last year was made on December 27, 2023, from the NRF to the Consolidated Fund, to the tune of US$152.1 million (equivalent to $31.6 billion).
In October 2024, the Government made a withdrawal of $62.3 billion (US$300 million) from the NRF, marking the fourth tranche of the $329.8 billion in withdrawals approved by Parliament for 2024. (G3)