A Significant Milestone

WE are now in the new year of 2022. The new year from all appearances is pregnant with new hopes and opportunities, especially in the context of our new status as a significant player on the international petroleum stage.

According to market projections, oil prices are expected to remain fairly stable in 2022, which means that any incremental amount of oil produced would bring additional sums of money into our national coffers.

With the passage into law following the signing by President Ali of the Natural Resource Fund Bill and the Local Content Bill, Guyana is now positioned to make concrete plans on how to best utilise the funds to promote the country’s development. President Ali has already given some hints as to how the oil money will be spent. Consistent with his human development and pro-people inclination, the President has indicated that a proportion of the oil funds will be invested in improving the welfare of Guyanese. This announcement was made by President Ali during his New Year’s Day Message to the nation. He extended appreciation to all the stakeholders who were involved in drafting the legislation, in particular young people who were involved in the drafting of the legislation.

President Ali made it abundantly clear that he would be ‘steering the ship to take the country forward and will dismantle barriers and build a cohesive vehicle which will aid in moving forward and transforming the country.’ The overall aim he said, is to create a win-win situation in which every stakeholder will be the ultimate winner.

These are indeed deeply profound and forward-looking thinking on the President’s part,  whose stewardship continues to be applauded by a wide cross-section of Guyanese and the international community.

The President took the opportunity to debunk a number of untruths being peddled by the political opposition and some opposition media outfits regarding the manner in which the Board of Directors of the NRF would be constituted. The view expressed by some opposition elements that the board will be ‘unilaterally’ appointed by the President,and will then be subservient to the President has also been wholly debunked.

According to the President, nothing could be further from the truth. While the President is obliged to sign the letters of appointment, the board will include a member from the parliamentary political opposition, a representative of the private sector and a representative of the Guyana Bar Association among others. These are not mechanisms that speak to the issue of unilateralism and control by the President, but a genuine attempt to include broad-based representation and introduce a fair measure of checks and balances into the decision-making process.

President Ali has not wasted any time in putting his signature to the two new pieces of legislation which have now become law. It is significant that the President assented to the legislation on the last days of the new year, an indication of his administrative and governance style in which every unit of time is important, regardless of the season or time of the year. The business of governance has already begun in earnest. There is no time to waste.

It is worth recalling that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was formed some 72 years ago exactly on New Year’s Day, January 1, 1950, under the leadership of Dr Cheddi Jagan and has grown in stature over the decades to become the largest and most powerful political party in the country, despite several past attempts both by the colonial powers and the PNC to emasculate the PPP and keep it out of power.

President Ali is now at the helm of a political administration that has long been shaped, steeled and tempered by some of the leading political luminaries in the country. His leadership style and his insistence on a people-oriented and pro-poor approach to development are consistent with that political and philosophical outlook. Guyanese can rest assured that the resources of the state will be used with one objective in mind — to advance the cause of the Guyanese people, regardless of race, politics, colour or creed.

A happy and productive 2022 to all Guyanese!

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