FOR HOW much longer the parliamentary opposition of the APNU/AFC intend to avoid passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation with all the contrived excuses they keep offering?Are they so obsessed with hatred for the democratically elected PPP-led government that they are prepared to punish the ENTIRE nation of Guyana by continuing with their political shenanigans and demonstrations of utter contempt for local, regional and international organisations and governments, that have been intervening with pleas for cooperation to ensure approval of the bill in accordance with requirements of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)?
Firm support for the bill have come from the leading private sector and trade union bodies, a cross-section of non-government organizations and, in addition, from the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Latest developments included the collective appeal by CARICOM Heads of Government at their Inter-Sessional Meeting in St.Vincent and then, just this past Friday, the warning from the internationally respected Guyanese entrepreneur, Yesu Persaud, against any kind of political horse-trading in order to secure parliament’s approval of the bill.
As Mr. Persaud sees it, the bill should not be used as a political bargaining tool since this could create new problems for governance. In particular, he has referred to the opposition’s manoeuvre to link passage of the legislation with approval by parliament for the appointment of a Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Further, while supporting the idea of establishing mechanisms like a Money Laundering Authority, the now retired outstanding entrepreneur warned that this could create undesirable problems. In essence, he feels that approval of the AML/CFT bill should not be used as a bargaining tool to satisfy narrow political objectives.
So far as the governments of CARICOM are concerned when the issue of AML/CFT legislation came up for discussion, they have made it quite clear that it was in the national interest of Guyana as well as the 15-member Community in general that the bill secures parliamentary approval consistent with what’s envisaged by the CFATF, hence, their call “on all relevant parties to ensure the necessary legislation in the national and regional interest.”
So, is it likely that the APNU/AFC coalition may yet move away from their anti-Guyana politics and support the AM/CFT bill? That’s the big question. We should soon know.