It was reported last week that the government holding company National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) injected a further US$16 million into the Marriott project. When questioned about the origins of the funds, the Director, Mr Winston Brassington, told the press these funds are not derived from taxation; that the funds come from dividends and sale of NICIL assets, which by the way are the assets of the people of Guyana.
On a technical level he is right that the funds do not come from taxation. However, NICIL is a government holding company. It was created during the Hoyte era to oversee the privatization of state assets. Under Hoyte some of the prices paid for the people’s assets were steeply discounted and valuations highly suspicious. One only needs to go back to the newspaper reports of that time to get a feel for how privatizations were done. Under the Jagdeo regime NICIL assumed a role of patronage channelling the people’s assets to selected friends. Moreover, in the Jagdeo period NICIL has also pursued investments or projects that don’t seem to be based on sound economic logic.
NICIL manages the assets of the people. The funds belong to the people of Guyana. NICIL is a government holding company and as such is accountable to
