PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar warned, on Thursday, that the non-passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill could result in the materialisation of a “human disaster” for Guyana.“This is fixable, it is not a natural disaster. It is a human disaster that is ahead of us but the Opposition seems to think otherwise…everyone must make their cries heard and demand the passage of the CFAFT (Caribbean Financial Action Task Force) compliant amendments to avoid the pitfalls that lie ahead,” he told the audience at the
national consultation on the legislation at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC).
The Head of State contended that the Government’s position is a reasonable one while in the Opposition’s demands, the “goalpost” is being constantly shifted.
The event was attended by hundreds of average Guyanese from different parts of the country and included representatives of the Private Sector, the religious community, the Education Sector, labour organisations, grassroots farmers and Government agencies.
He said much is at stake if one considers the repercussions of being internationally blacklisted.
“I have tried. I have met with the Opposition parties on more than one occasion. I expressed similar views that I am expressing to you now. I said to them and I put it in writing to the Leader of the Opposition, I said let us pass the Bill,”
Mr. Ramotar revealed.
He said his Administration is not engaging in the promotion of “hysteria”, contrary to the opinions of the combined Opposition.
The facts are clear, as expressed by the CFATF advisor, Mr. Roger Hernandez when he met with political parties, as well as Private Sector and other stakeholder groups in the latter part of February, the President stated.
Many difficulties
He noted that the national consultation, as well as the regional consultations that have been hosted to date, are aimed at informing the people of Guyana of an issue that has the potential to introduce many difficulties to Guyanese.
“Ladies and gentlemen, friends, we are at a very, very important junction in the history of this country. Not passing this Bill can have grave specs on us and can have the effect of slowing down our social and economic progress.
More investments
“Passing this can help us to move quickly, can help us to attract more investments to create more employment for people, to create better services for people, to make it easier for Guyana to transact business internationally and make the possibility for us to grow,” he explained.
Continuing, Ramotar said: “Economists are saying that, in our time, one of the most important policies to accelerate economic development is trade, international trade, and everywhere countries are looking, we ourselves are looking to make it easier to adopt the type of investment that we want in our country and advance our society.
“This will have an impact on that important aspect, important tool for economic development…this is an issue that will affect each and every one of you.”
The President bemoaned the fact that the Opposition continues to delay the passage of the Bill, on which there is agreement.
He pointed out that up to Wednesday’s meeting of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, where the AML/CFT Bill is presently, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Cecil Durjohn, submitted a draft of the A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) proposed amendments and the Opposition was still making changes.
The three amendments address changes to:
* the entire governing apparatus of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU);
* the removal of the Attorney-General wherever that name appears and replacing it with the FIU and
* vesting a Police or Customs officer with the power to seize currency from any person, anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that the money is the proceeds of crime or will be used to finance crime.
Swift passage
Ramotar noted that the Opposition is filibustering when it comes to ensuring swift passage of the Bill.
He told the forum:“I said let us pass the Bill that we know is CFATF compliant and let us send your amendments to the CFATF and, if they say that these are CFATF compliant, you can bring it back to the Parliament because you have the majority of votes and I will assent to it. They refused that.”
APNU is also calling for the Head of State to assent to several Bills he returned to the National Assembly with an explanation of his decision, reasons that were centred on the unconstitutionality of the legislations.
About that situation, Ramotar said: “I vowed to uphold the Constitution and cannot give my assent to bills that are clearly unconstitutional.”
Esther Pereira
He recalled the Esther Pereira Elections Petition case of 1998, where, in spite an agreement by Members of Parliament (MPs), a legal case did result.
“How do I know if I sign this, despite my legal advice, that another Esther Pereira will raise its head and impeach me,” Ramotar asked.
The President made it clear that, as it stands, nothing is preventing the Opposition from challenging his reason for withholding assent and taking the matter to the court.
Ramotar also addressed the position of the Alliance for Change (AFC), which supports the APNU’s position, as well as is calling for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
“I will say again that this is not an issue of establishing the PPC. It is not an issue. But we must have the minimum, the very minimum to discharge a duty and our function. We must have the minimum of the no objection restored in the law,” he said.

The Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2013, read a first time in the National Assembly last November, aims to amend the 2003 Principal Procurement Act by making changes to Section 54 through deleting subsection six, effectively restoring Cabinet’s no-objection role.
Section 54 deals with Cabinet’s involvement in reviewing the award of procurement contracts and the phasing out of its functions with the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC), in the interest of decentralising the procuring process.
Subsection Six states that: “Cabinet’s involvement shall cease upon the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, except in relation to those matters referred to in subsection one which are pending.”
Ramotar said:“It was this Administration that brought it (the PPC) on the books but we insist that Cabinet’s right to no-objection must be maintained. It is an Executive function.
“I want to remind you that we also had the power to award contracts and we gave that up voluntarily. Guyana’s Cabinet is the only Cabinet in the Caribbean that does not award contracts.”
The President reiterated that the consequences of being further blacklisted, as Guyana has already been regionally by CFATF, are real and all must be done to spare Guyana and its people further difficulties.
Guyana missed the February 28 ultimatum, when the country was required to submit a report to CFATF, which was expected to include a copy of the enacted Bill that would, after analysis, be correlated to the deficiencies identified by the body at its November 2013 Plenary Meeting, before a report is made in May 2014.
This country, unfortunately, was only able to report on the non-legislative recommendations by CFATF.
If the May Plenary is dissatisfied with Guyana’s progress, CFATF’s November 2013 statement already provides the decision for the country’s referral to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which meets again in June 2014.