REPRESENTING all the organisations under the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) umbrella, the body’s President, Lincoln Lewis, called for the Opposition to withhold their support of the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill.

Speaking at a press conference, held yesterday at the GTUC Office at the Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Avenue, Lewis joined the bandwagon of the political Opposition bargaining their demands with their support (non-support) of the critical piece of legislation.
Lewis is demanding that the Government’s agreements with the GTUC be honoured, principally the Administration’s June 2012 commitment, given to the Supreme Court to re-issue letters to start arbitration proceedings into the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) impasse.
“What the administration has not refused to pass, it has refused to implement…if the government wants peaceful co-existence, equitable development and good governance it will obey and implement laws and agreements,” he said.
Lewis’ position was a hardline one, in that he made it clear that the pronouncements of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) are secondary; what he termed as “rights” of the workers.
He said, “We don’t concern about the deadline. We concern about all the agreements that you have signed with labour. They went to the court and said they are going to re-issue letters to start the arbitration and that was in 2012 and to date it has not been done. What assurance I get that when this bill is passed that it will be implemented?
“…people’s rights are important and in this case the government must be called upon to respect these rights? This issue can be done within eight hours.”
He said, “The Opposition must be told that any support to the Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill (AML/CFT) by way of vote, abstaining or absent from the National Assembly by any of its members will be construed by Labour as a calculated act of non-representation on the issues that affect the wider society.
“…any act by the opposition to pass a bill without having the government respect existing laws, implement outstanding agreements, and assent to outstanding bills would be seen by Labour as an act of treachery.”
The GTUC President also referenced other agreements, including, the Herdmanston Accord, St. Lucia Statement, Hoyte/Jagdeo Agreement, Corbin/Jagdeo Communiqué, August 2012 Agreement between Central Government and Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice).
“None of these agreements were implemented. Guarantee must now be based on implementation,” Lewis posited.
He added that if the Opposition fails “their constituents” in Region 10, the GTUC will be forced to review its relationship with the party.
“We will review how we deal with the opposition. But what we’re saying to the citizens of this country is that all the politicians must be held accountable,” Lewis said.
The GTUC President stated that the Union met with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) last Thursday to make its position clear, but when asked acknowledged that these concerns were not forwarded to the Government.

(By Vanessa Narine)