ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall has said that the governance structure used for Guyana’s Petroleum Activities Bill is the best model for Guyana’s growing oil and gas industry and is similar to those in other countries.

The minister made this disclosure during an airing of his ‘Issues in the News’ show last week where he noted that the singular criticism that came from the opposition was the functional responsibilities that the bill reposes in the natural resources minister.

He told his viewers that they did not criticise any other aspect of the bill.

“So naturally they did not agree with us politically, nothing is new about that. Their argument essentially was that they want a commission and that the minister should not have the powers that the minister has,” he said.

Nandlall added that opposition members referred to a bill they attempted to put forward in the past which would have established a commission. He emphasised it was their prerogative at that time to determine what governance structure should govern the industry.

According to the AG this was not the model that this government chose to go with concerning the industry in its current stage.

He said: “It’s either you have a commission and a commission is reposed with the power or you have a minister, but you can’t have a commission that becomes a rubber stamp of the minister and that in essence was our argument in relation to their bill.”

Speaking on the specific structure that the current administration chose, Nandlall said the minister is the authority in the Act and this was a model similar to what several other countries like Trinidad and Tobago have for their petroleum industry.

“We feel that at this point in time having the power in the minister acting upon the directions of cabinet is what is in the best interest at this time,” Nandlall expressed.
Additionally, the legal affairs minister disclosed that the government has made it clear that once the industry is out of its embryonic stages, with the necessary infrastructure and the industry up and running, it will move to establish a commission.

To this end, he said that the government is putting the functional responsibility of the industry in the hands of the minister and cabinet which under the Constitution is answerable to the parliament.

“That is democracy, that is what the Constitution prescribed,” he said.