Opinion
Which of the 24 Santiago Principles is matched by which numbered Article in the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021?
Jay Mobeen asserts that ‘babbling Glen Lall and others who agitated against the NRF … were disingenuous. For weeks they peddled misinformation to a nation, woefully ignorant of the bill. This couldn’t have been more glaring than the massive sign held up outside the Assembly by opposition protestors. This sign demanded the inclusion of the…
The time has come for the current political leaders to adopt a new political culture
As a Guyanese of the diaspora living in Switzerland and Germany, I have been following Guyanese politics closely for the last few years. What has struck me most is the uncompromising nature of politics in my mother’s homeland. There is the absence of a political culture of seeking solutions to the nation’s key problems by…
When a gov’t shuts down dialogue with its people, it becomes a gov’t versus its own people
An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” The Government chose to go fast and alone in force-feeding the Natural Resource Fund Act on the nation, using its one-seat majority. Despite its sloganeering about “One Guyana,” the PPP’s engine room essentially told the…
Policy Forum Guyana: TREATMENT OF CITIZENS PETITION – A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
https://www.oggn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/PR-TREATMENT-OF-CITIZENS-PETITION-A-SIGN-OF-THINGS-TO-COME.pdf
We need more people’s power in relation to Natural Resource Fund and less political power grab!
There is a saying, “The more you watch the less you see; the less you watch, the better for me.” The PPP/C seems bent on using its one-seat majority to railroad the repeal of the original NRF Act approved by the Coalition, replacing it with its own bill, and reducing the Public Accountability and Oversight…
NRF too important for gov’t to rush through without discussion with parliamentary opposition
Observers say the PPP/C is stealthily rushing its new NRF bill (and repealing the APNU+AFC’s NRF Act already passed) while the nation is distracted by yearend festivities. Knowing how “politricks” work in Guyana, this is a plausible explanation for the rush. Exxon, Hess and CNOOC are shipping away the bulk of our oil wealth, leaving…
A real makeover of the PNC must include an appeal to Indians and renegotiating the oil contract
The argument has been advanced that the reason PNC rigged all elections (1968 – 1985) goes like this: Why not? If PNC didn’t rig, then PPP with its Indian numerical majority base would win all elections – and they (PNC) would be kept out of power forever. Sounds like good logic in an environment where…
More symptoms of Dutch Disease, PPP/C has to take national approach to good governance
Since August 2020, the new PPP/C government has begun to implement an impressive two-pronged strategy. It intends to carry out pro-poor and pro-business policies to meet the “basic needs of every single Guyanese”, and secondly to develop good economic, financial, social and political governance policies to avoid the oil ‘Dutch Disease’. Without using any oil…
President Ali has to empower the 22 civic representatives, not get rid of them
President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali said, “The people of this country went to a poll, and they have placed their confidence in a president, in a government. Are you saying that after the people have placed that confidence that we don’t have the right or we can’t be trusted to name people on a board?” https://dpi.gov.gy/everything-in-sovereign-wealth-fund-will-have-parliamentary-oversight-president-ali/