– Finance Minister
FINANCE Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has suggested that the World Bank’s country office here engage in some serious introspection and reconsider its own priorities before venturing into the public domain and commenting on matters beyond the competence of its resident staff.
The Finance Minister was commenting on the page-one headline in the 25 edition of the Kaieteur News quoting World Bank’s Country Representative, Giorgio Valentini as saying that the World Bank was never approached for support for the Amaila Falls project.
Minister Singh said that for years, the World Bank has been a highly valued development partner to Guyana, operating a small and efficient country office in modest premises within the UNDP country office, with a small staff of professionals dedicated to the task of aiding development in Guyana.
He said that in recent months, however, he has observed a worrying trend of shifting priorities, with the Bank’s office being relocated to a grand former colonial residence opposite one of the city’s most fashionable cafés, the recruitment of new staff including prominently a communications officer, and frequent forays into the media by the head of the country office on all manner of subjects.
“I would be much happier if the country office of the Bank expended more effort to increase the Bank’s work and its development impact in Guyana, instead of trying to increase their own visibility and creature comforts. Of all our development partners, the Bank has one of the smallest project portfolios, but one of the largest offices and, it would appear, one of the largest appetites for publicity and self-promotion, even if only recently acquired. Guyana still faces considerable development challenges, and we need the assistance of the World Bank, we don’t need grandstanding by their staff in country,” the Minister stated.
In connection with Valentini’s statement that the Bank never received a request from Guyana for support for the Amaila Falls project, the Minister offered two responses.
Firstly, he stated that the Bank’s Representative seemed to be unaware that the project is a private sector project, with international investors as the project sponsors. Any request for support would come in the first instance from the private sponsors of the project and not from the State, although the State would be likely to support any such request.
Secondly, the Minister stated, the Bank’s Representative should have acquainted himself with the facts before offering an uninformed response. The project sponsors have been engaged in discussions with the Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and other institutions within the World Bank Group, along with several other sources of financial and non-financial support for the project. Had the Representative bothered to ascertain the facts, he would not have offered such an uninformed response, which only served to feed Kaieteur News’ apparently insatiable appetite for sensational headlines.
The Minister emphasised that Guyana has valued greatly the work of the Bank over the years, but is firmly of the view that the Bank’s mandate in Guyana would be better served by greater prudence on the part of its staff than has been displayed by its country office recently, including the most recent media jaunt by the Bank’s Representative. “The emphasis must be on improving delivery of assistance and maximising development impact, rather than on increasing visibility and raising personal profile,” the Minister said. (GINA)