The PPP/C government’s version of the Natural Resource Fund Act is no different from the earlier one by the APNU+AFC coalition in relation to the concentration of powers.
This is the contention of economist, Professor Tarron Khemraj in his column in today’s Sunday Stabroek.
Withering criticism has greeted the government’s decision to have the Natural Resource Fund Act passed on December 29 last year without any consultation or referral of the draft law to a Special Select Committee of Parliament or the Natural Resource Committee for expert review. The law was assented to on December 30, 2021 and an order promulgated a day later bringing the Act into operation as of January 1st, 2022. PPP/C officials have argued that their version of the Act was far better than APNU+AFC’s and that broad powers concentrated in the Minister of Finance have been removed.
