After the COVID-19-induced hiatus of two years, the Building Expo opened on Friday at the National Stadium at Providence with hundreds of exhibitors, thousands of visitors and a flurry of announcements by the government.
The Ali administration should be given credit for resuming the Expo as it provides a connection for those seeking building solutions and those who have innovative offerings. The allocation of house lots and assistance with financing options will also undoubtedly help hundreds of Guyanese who have been dreaming of owning their own plots of land and houses.
Still, a sense of order and the qualities of good governance must pervade all of these ventures. The people of this country are increasingly aware of the large revenue flows that are coming from the two oil-producing platforms in the Atlantic – none more so than those in government. On Friday, Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh tabled a financial paper seeking an additional $44.7b in provisions despite the presentation of a $552.9b budget in January which was itself 44.3% grander than the $383.1b budget in 2021. Spending is in overdrive and it raises a variety of questions particularly as it relates to the absorptive capacity of the country.
With weak watchdog institutions in the country there will be increasing concerns about corruption as there will be about prudence in spending. The Ministry of Housing and Water will be required to provide an accounting for this Expo, the outlay by the government, the total cost and the receipts from those who purchased booth space etc. This accounting should ideally be completed within months and submitted as a special report to Parliament.
Initial questions have arisen about the relationship between the ministry/expo and the company, Impressions Inc which appeared to have been entrusted with the mandate of allocating booths and other duties. Following concerns that had been raised about the manner of engagement of Impressions Inc, questions were posed by this newspaper to Minister of Housing Collin Croal. He stated that the company was doing “branding and labelling” for the ministry but could not say how much it was being paid for these services. He also admitted that these services had not been tendered for. How can this be? This is not the type of stewardship one expects from the government in relation to procurement for a major activity like the Expo.
Quite appropriately, a civil society activist, Jonathan Yearwood has since applied to the Office of the Commissioner of Information seeking details on the contract between Impressions and the Ministry. The public awaits with interest to see whether answers will be forthcoming.
At the opening of the Expo on Friday, President Ali announced that for homes costing $6 million or lower, the government with effect from the last day of the expo will give every builder in this category the steel required and a sling of cement to build a foundation. He added that for homes costing more than $6 million and up to $25 million, the government will provide two slings of cement.
While these distributions will undoubtedly help home builders in the cited categories, this penchant of President Ali to deliver handouts here and there in his own deliberate judgement is not the type of structured and accountable governance that the country needs. Assistance to any sector of society whether it is to hinterland villages, the differently abled community or to those building houses to the value of $25m must come within the ambit of sectoral policies, fiscal prudence and above all a comprehensive plan. The initiatives while well-meaning evince a sense of entitlement by the President to make decisions on government revenues without recourse to the subject minister and the programme being followed by the ministry.
Another serious drawback of these handouts is that while some communities and groups of persons will benefit from the largesse now seemingly available from oil revenues, others have been, and will be, completely ignored and this will add to the discontent that revenues are not being equitably shared.
President Ali’s party produced a manifesto to help it win the elections. August 2nd will mark his government’s second anniversary after the five-month elections fiasco. Yet, there is little sign of adherence to key aspects of the document which address matters such as the management of oil revenues.
Under the rubric of `Securing the benefits of oil and gas for all Guyanese’ the PPP/C manifesto promised `A framework for proper management of the resource’. To date, there is no such framework as the Natural Resource Fund is simply a repository for oil monies and via a basic formula transfers designated allotments to the Consolidated Fund. A framework for the astute management of oil revenues would aid in avoiding the discretionary handouts that the President now seems so enamoured of.
Another hotly contested aspect of the manifesto commitment was the pledge to “Immediately engage the oil and gas companies in better contract administration/re-negotiation”. Did this not imply renegotiation of the appalling Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited Production Sharing Agreement of 2016?
Perhaps the most egregious departure from the manifesto commitment as it relates to management of revenues is the promise to “Define by legislation how funds will flow from the Sovereign Wealth Fund (Natural Resource Fund) into the budget, and the purpose for which they will be used”. While the Natural Resource Fund Act of 2021 does define how funds will flow from the Natural Resource Fund into the budget, the specific purposes for which the funds will be used have not been defined and this was the subject of debate during the consideration of the estimates of expenditure for 2022. It makes eminent sense for the public to be made aware of which projects/initiatives are to be funded by oil monies and the government has been silent on this.
On Friday, the President also adverted to an arrangement with commercial banks to reduce housing mortgage interest rates by up to 3.8% for loans up to $9 million. Were there concessions by the government to the banks in return for this agreement on mortgage rates?
The quality of governance thus far under the Ali administration raises concerns about openings for corruption and the prospect that some sectors and groups will be favoured over others.
