Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Shurwayne Holder says the Coalition had a “superior formula” for transparency and accountability of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF). “The previous Government established a Public Accountability and Oversight Committee that comprised a wide array of professionals, many of them from credible organisations that are known advocates of transparency and accountability,” holder stated in a stinging ‘Letter to the Editor’ in the dailies.
Holder said that this arrangement ensured that Civil Society played a pivotal role and that there was proper oversight of the NRF. The MP stated that before the amendments to the legislation, “the Act created a proper Public Accountability and Oversight Committee with a clear mandate to scrutinise the spending of our oil money and to make public any act committed by the Government that in contravention of the law or outside of good governance practices”.
The PNCR Chairman stated that while he has nothing against any of the current appointees personally, nor questions their competence within their various fields of work, “What I do question is their obvious connection with the PPP and hence their ability to scrutinize the PPP’s handling of the oil fund effectively.” “Seven of the nine persons appointed are known publicly to have a deep affiliation with the PPP. The two reps from the Private Sector are a sitting Vice President and a former Vice President of the Private Sector Commission. We all know where the Private Sector Commission leans”, were among the issues Holder pointed out.
“There is the Parliamentary Nominee who was virtually selected by the PPP through their one-seat majority. That PPP nominee has been appointed by the President to chair this crucial Public Accountability and Oversight Committee. So it is quite clear that the PPP Government has no genuine interest in transparency and accountability with respect to the spending of oil money. What it is interested in and has since accomplished, is the appointment of its friends and cronies to allow for total domination and control of the NRF board and more importantly the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee,” MP Holder stated in his missive.
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