SOME things should be above petty deliberations and ambitious power-play when the general good needs to supersede every consideration for the benefit of the nation.
Support of the legislation to combat moneylaundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) certainly comes into this equation, because the result of non-support of this vital Bill would be the blacklisting, in a multiplicity of ways, of Guyana and things Guyanese in the regional and international arenas. The consequences would have unimaginably negative impacts, ultimately, on every Guyanese man, woman and child.For approximately two decades, the PPP/C has worked unremittingly to reverse the destruction and devastation visited upon Guyana and Guyanese by the former PNC regime. And it has done so with magnificent success, with the socio-economic development in this country poised to catalyze dramatically within the immediate future, from a base laid by the unrelenting efforts of former President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who is now aptly referred to as “The architect of modern Guyana”.
But the gains made by the nation today seem to be instead on the brink of a downward spiral as the Government, headed by incumbent President, Mr Donald Ramotar, has found itself in a quandary when the PPP/C lost its parliamentary majority to a vengeful joint Opposition in the November 2011 general elections.
The ludicrous irony of persons who had no input into Guyana’s wealth creation, even those who destroyed Guyana and left it a deeply indebted country, arrogating to themselves the right to abrogate that wealth disposition to the nation, and drive the workers of the country into joblessness and destroyed opportunities for advancement — individually and nationally — have sent shockwaves rippling throughout the country as the implications of the combined Opposition’s intractable behaviour in and out of Parliament is impacting the socio-economic dynamics of the nation, and catalyzing it on a downward gradient.
Even the private sector is distressed, because, apart from other constraining factors, disposable incomes would be severely reduced in many families and government-run institutions, thus hampering purchasing power with severe, deleterious ripple effects on the business community.
There is no logic to the madness of the joint Opposition’s refusal to support the AML/CFT legislation. The first major signal that the joint Opposition meant to use their one-seat collective majority to stymie Government’s developmental projects was their reckless cutting of the 2013 Budget, when they wielded their “Sword of Damocles” on the painstaking work of the Finance Minister, his supporting aides, and the various stakeholders in the nation’s economy.
The stunned disbelief of Government MPs was mirrored in the faces of even Opposition media operatives, who could not believe the socio-economic dislocations the opposition collective was prepared to visit upon the nation, merely to be vindictive, and to show the government, in Granger’s own words, “who is boss”.
An image that went viral was of a stunned Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, covering his face in agonised dismay as the Opposition did the unbelievable, cleanly cutting the budget for the Government’s flagship in hinterland development, the Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), with all the resultant implications, with former Amerindian Affairs Minister, Ms Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, sitting next to him in solemn anguish as she contemplated the dire consequences of this vindictive budgetary slash to her people, who have always been oppressed by the PNC, in and now out of Government.
What was even more appalling was the AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan callously describing as “collateral damage” the Amerindian communities and persons who would suffer, with many losing their jobs as a consequence of this irrational budgetary massacre.
However, this eventuality should not have been unexpected when the joint parliamentary Opposition, exulting in the collective power vested in it through its one-seat majority during an earlier sitting (when Supplemental Financial Paper No. 7 was laid in the National Assembly) determinedly voted against its passage, thus leaving incomplete the country’s accounting records, which would be recorded as unresolved in the AG’s audit reports for the budget agencies in which the monies had been spent. According to legal and financial experts, the likes of this has never before happened in any other part of the world.
And those monies were spent on unforeseen expenses, while the Government had to continue its functionality while Parliament was prorogued to facilitate general elections. But, the business of the State did not come to an abrupt halt during that period, as was the expectation. The Constitution makes provision for the Government to continue its work in such an eventuality, and for the consequential supplemental papers to be laid in the National Assembly when next it convened.
That supplemental financial paper, shockingly, did not gain passage through the recalcitrant power-drunkenness of the joint Opposition, which did not care that the monies were spent for contractual financial obligations in preparatory work for the specialty hospital; flood relief and interventions in drainage and irrigation; retroactive increases for public servants and joint services ranks; expenses for police ranks who were “in lying” during the elections period; funding for the extended registration period, and other such expenses in the nation’s interest.
However, even more catastrophic is the combined Opposition’s intractable stance of non-support of the legislation to combat money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), despite pleas from all right-minded stakeholders all across the country.
And one can only assume that the Opposition will be richly rewarded by the only persons who would benefit from the non-passage of this vital Bill and the dire consequences that are already being felt in the inexorable retraction of Guyana’s social development and economic growth: the drug barons, money launderers, and criminals of every shape and form, both nationally and internationally.
Apart from well-documented relationships with the criminal fraternity, opposition leaders have a track record of providing pro bono legal representation to murderous gang and cartel members.
Suspicion of their prostitution of this nation is therefore a natural consequence of this latest anti-development, anti-national, unpatriotic action/non-action of theirs which they refuse to reverse.