GOVERNMENT announced, yesterday, that it intends to, very soon, table an appropriately worded amendment to the Procurement Act.

“We undertake to identify Government nominees for parliamentary consideration to sit on the Public Procurement Commission, subsequent to the enactment of the amendment,” Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon further informed.
Speaking at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, in Georgetown, he said Government has reason to expect ‘A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) support for a role of Cabinet in procurement.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) has long been linking its support for amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill to the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
Cabinet continues to find this “absurd,” Luncheon declared yesterday.
Meanwhile, he said Cabinet noted the recent and most unusual occurrence, when APNU took to the public media to table its intention to amend the bill further to make it more comprehensive.

Peculiar action
“This peculiar action comes from a parliamentary political party that constituted and sat on the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) that considered the Anti- Money Laundering Amendment Bill, consideration that went for months.
“Their intransigence during those sittings is well established. The question remains why. Their espousal of a better and a more comprehensive bill rings hollow in the face of their unprincipled behaviour during the sittings of the PSSC that considered the bill,” said Luncheon.
He said Cabinet contends that it is not APNU that has to be satisfied with this bill.
“I must repeat again that this bill is a CFATF bill. Guyana has to satisfy CFATF requirements. CFATF has dictated and will continue to dictate the anti-money laundering bills of the world, of States that, specifically, are treaty bound under the FATF. So let’s put to rest that perspective,” the HPS stated.
According to him, the bill arose from the multilateral evaluation report done by CFATF as it examined Guyana’s compliance with its treaty obligations. The provisions in the bill were instituted; they were drafted to conform to CFATF’s requirement for this particular stage in the evaluation of Guyana’s compliance, Luncheon explained.

Still hoping
He had, previously, said that authorities are still hoping, “even at the very last moment,” that the AML/CFT legislation would be passed before the November deadline.
He HPS said: “We are hoping that this piece of legislation joins the whole repertoire of legislative instruments that are here applicable in Guyana and used in the fight against terrorism.”
Just recently, Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall observed that Guyana has violated every timeframe prescribed by CFATF. Currently, the country stands to, most likely, be placed on a list of non-compliant jurisdictions at the November meeting of CFATF in The Bahamas.
“Should that occur, the ramifications for our commercial sector and our image as an investment and tourist destination are indeed as far reaching as they are profound. In the end, every single Guyanese would be affected.
“Yet, the Opposition continues to make utterances which tend to suggest that they do not consider this as a matter of importance and urgency. Indeed, no other than the Leader of the Opposition was reported as saying that he is unconcerned about the deadlines fixed,” Luncheon remarked.