Dear Editor,
Over the past two decades the PPP/Civic government has worked tirelessly to create a favourable and a stable environment for investment in Guyana. Indeed, the gains made by Guyana under the PPP/C Government during that period have been widespread and have benefited all, and that includes the very recalcitrant opposition PNC which left us penniless and highly indebted when the Guyanese public voted for change in October 1992. Yes, I speak of the same PNC which almost destroyed Guyana and which now threatens to erode those gains which we have made.
It is for these and many other reasons that I am happy that a significant number of the Guyanese population, individually and in groups have been very vocal in calling on the opposition to support the Anti-Money Laundering Bill.
I join the PSC, Caricom, trade unions, working class people including the over one thousand Guyanese who were present at a public discourse at the Guyana International Conference Centre on Thursday, March 13, and who came forward and joined us in expressing concern about the adverse effects on the Guyanese economy and its people and, by extension, the Caricom region if the opposition did not support the Anti-Money Laundering Amendment Bill in the National Assembly of Guyana.
I welcome them to this ever growing group of concerned and patriotic Guyanese. These meetings must be viewed as providing an opportunity for them to express their views, to seek clarifications, to offer support and to let the opposition know how they feel about their reckless, irresponsible and nefarious actions. It’s indeed a show of unity.
Last November we were blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) after being identified as a country with deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime. We were given a series of deadlines by which to make ourselves compliant with CFATF/FATF standards with Feb 28, 2014 being the latest such deadline. The deadlines for compliance are established by the Financial Action Task force (FATF).
One would have thought that the political opposition which claims to have the interest and welfare of the Guyanese people at heart would see the negative impact and the imminent jeopardy in which they were about to place our country, since we will be subject to sanctions if we did not comply and put the required legislative reform in place. On the contrary, the combined opposition seems bent once again on taking us back to an earlier era. They want to demonstrate that they are powerful and that they can make Guyana ungovernable. We cannot allow that to happen.
The non-passage of the AML Bill will negatively affect bilateral financial arrangements with other countries. Loans and grants to Guyana will suffer and so too will money transfers in and out of Guyana. The flow will be adversely affected. Trade deals will be much more difficult as will the import and export of goods. So if my brother in the USA wants to send me a few dollars, it will be more difficult for him to do so and more difficult for me to get it, all because the risk rating of Guyana will go up.
Also, money borrowed by investors will attract a higher interest rate. Already I have been told that some banks have been reporting delays in sending and receiving monies with mandatory measures now in place to verify the identities of the persons transacting business.
Our international image will be blemished and this may well make travel and investment more difficult to obtain. A citizen from a suspected ‘drug country’ will be subject to much closer scrutiny. None of this is good for any of us. We should all be very worried.
What are the opposition reasons advanced for not passing the Bill? It places too much enforcement power in the hands of two ministers. The Bill must be cleaned up. What do they offer as an alternative, as an improvement?
They tabled 3 amendments but many have expressed concerns that some of the proposed amendments to the principal act could land Guyana in the danger zone. Try as we may, though these risks were outlined, we have not to date succeeded in getting APNU/AFC to recall these amendments which include vesting police officers and customs officers with a power to seize currency from any person, anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that the currency is the proceeds of crime or will be used to finance crime.
The AFC wants the Procurement Commission to be established before they support the Bill in the National Assembly. But it is noticeable that neither opposition party has actually objected to the provisions of the Bill itself. There is actually consensus on both sides with respect to the CFATF amendments.
The opposition also wants the President to assent to Bills which they passed in the National Assembly using their one seat majority even though we did not support them. Both opposition parties are obviously enemies of progress. The Guyanese people want progress; they want development. As I move around this Guyana people are asking questions: they want to know if the role of the opposition has been redefined; they want to know what manner of people are these. Where is their patriotism? Where is their love for country and its people?
But the opposition remains unnerved/ unchanged. But our voices must continue to be sounded and to be heard. The opposition must put our country and its people and their well-being first.
Yours faithfully,
Minister Norman Whittaker
