The joint opposition should not hold Guyana hostage, in a bid to score cheap political points.

What a bunch of bull from that propaganda site! Surely we can read and grasp the reasons why the international body put off sanctions! The opposition should not agree to that poorly crafted bill!

you're doin so by hiding behind the flag of Guyana

Guyanese from a wide cross section of the society are bitterly upset with the stance taken by the joint opposition which would inevitably cause Guyana to be blacklisted.

 Rather the PPP, should not think they can get away with their usual autocratic formulations for the state! It is not a cheap shot when the minister of finance is given authority exceeding his constitutional mandate. He is not judge and jury. This bill is a piece of ppp tripe being passed off as sound for the People. In the People's name the opposition should shred this bill.

Where is your proof? PPP had more than 10 years to pass it.

It is not our flag. He ought to know any representation of the flag not in its properly designated state is a desecration of the flag.

He is disgracing the flag.

If the joint opposition amendment were to be drafted which included not having more than 2 million cash in hand, would have effectively cause money to be contraband in Guyana, plunging the country back to the dark days.

Quit making up stories from the people and appointing yourself the peoples voice. Which properly informed Guyanese would award  that dweeb Ashni have the authority to ruin their lives if he so choose? Again, he is not the law, has no legal authority to sanction anyone per his prescribed role in the constitution. That is a matter for the courts. Lacking that addition to this bill its rightful place is in the trash bin.

It will close down your laundry bizness.

Pure bull. The amendment can be redesigned to fit the needs of regulation of cash flow. The us has such a model. If a similar one is adopted one would definitely see a shrinking of the parallel underground economy ( and the heart of laundering in progress). Unless you folks are brain dead you would know that practically everyone in Guyana is laundering money. This is not simply an anti terror campaign. That may be the US main concern but we should be concerned with the wholesale washing of money from smuggling every thing from oil to water. If that disappears, truly creative entrepreneurs ( not the fast food sort) would enter the market.

The joint opposition amendments should not even been considered.

One cannot leave the UK with more than £1000 in cash unless you have bank statements to show that you are a bank account holder in the UK and that the money was withdrawn from the bank. For larger sums of money up to £10000 you need special permissions. Anything above that and Customs will seize the money. You can claim it back when you re-enter the country and can show that you are a UK tax payer. It does not matter how rich you are or if you are just a tourist going back home with money you brought into the country. If you are a tourist, you have to provide evidence that you had brought the money into the country in the first place.

Anti-Money Laundering legislation…AFC position remains the same

- Treasurer By Dwijendra Rooplall

Executive member and Treasurer of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Dominic Gaskin in a telephone interview with Kaieteur News expressed that the AFC position has not changed with respect to the party offering support for the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill.

AFC Treasurer Dominic Gaskin

AFC’s contention is that their support for the passage of the amendments is conditional upon the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC). “Once they have agreed to establish the Public Procurement Commission, we will agree to support the amendments… That’s what we have been saying all along,” Gaskin said. The AML Bill was last year voted down by the combined opposition with its one-seat majority in Parliament, because the Select Committee which was established to review the concerns of the opposition and stakeholders over the AML Bill was closed off by government and sent to Parliament unfinished.   The consequences of which saw Guyana being blacklisted last year by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) for being non-compliant with the recommendations put forward by the said body. Attorney General Anil Nandlall had said that Guyana was given up to March this year (when CFATF will hold its next plenary meeting) to get its act together or face a higher level of blacklisting which will take years of reform and compliance to be taken off of. As such, the defeated AML Bill was resent to the Parliamentary Select Committee where work on gaining consensus on the Bill started on Monday last. Speaking on the Select Committee, Gaskin said that the AFC has no qualms about the amendments proposed by government over the AML Bill; their concerns are with the establishment of the PPC. He said that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) “has amendments that they wish to propose and we will look at them. As long as they resolve in strengthening the apparatus to fight money laundering, we would be happy with them…Bearing in mind that this kind of legislation throughout the world is constantly updated and amended as new ways of laundering money come about. So it’s an ongoing thing; if it’s not sufficient this year there will be more amendments next year, so there will be tons of opportunities to amend the legislation.” Gaskin said that with respect to the PPC, the government is holding a position that is not consistent with the Procurement Act. He explained that what the government would like to do is amend the act to retain a role in the process where they can review over $15M, and that award can only go ahead if government gives their no objection to it. “We are saying that the act is very specific about that and it says that that role will come to an end when the Public Procurement Commission has been established. We are maintaining that that role come to an end.” According to Gaskin, the AFC does not have a problem with government objecting to that award of the contract, but government must take the objections to the PPC, which is what that body was established to deal with. “We don’t want the Cabinet…specifically at the end of the process where the award of a contract has been made…. that cabinet must have the role of looking over that contract and deciding whether or not they will support it, because that can lead to all sorts of corruption,” said Gaskin. “Can you imagine a big contractor being approached by the PPP for a campaign donation knowing that he has a contract that has to be reviewed by Cabinet in a few weeks…is he going to say no?” “Things like this play a major part in how democratic your country is governed, so cabinet must not have a role in the process… not a review role at that… bearing in mind that the government is involved in every step of the way. The procurement agency is usually a government ministry, they design the contract, they control the Tender Board and everything, so at the end of it all when it goes through that process, there is no reason for Cabinet to have this no-objection rule and it’s only there for one reason; only they want to control and intimidate the contractors.” According to Gaskin, that is one of the reasons why the AFC decided to use the Anti-Money Laundering legislation as a “bargaining chip” “More so in the light of the fact that this Bill was tabled at the last possible minute, and we knew that the government has been playing games with this bit of legislation and had been in breach of the recommendations of CFATF for a long time now, and were only hustling to cover up this by tabling the legislation two of three weeks before the meeting.”

The joint opposition needs to pull their shoulders to the wheel and place Guyana above partisan politics.

It is not the job of the opposition to assist in money laundering by PPP drug lords.

I think that analogy "to the wheel" would be more apt if applied to that corrupt lot in the PPP. Were they committed to the labor of managing the state and not raiding the till we would have a less wounded and more prosperous society. They need to put their backs to their tasks

The olive branch is extended to the joint opposition, but the joint opposition shows a great level of reluctance. 

AFC’s contention is that their support for the passage of the amendments is conditional upon the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC). “Once they have agreed to establish the Public Procurement Commission, we will agree to support the amendments… That’s what we have been saying all along,” Gaskin said. The AML Bill was last year voted down by the combined opposition with its one-seat majority in Parliament, because the Select Committee which was established to review the concerns of the opposition and stakeholders over the AML Bill was closed off by government and sent to Parliament unfinished. 

The joint opposition are using a host of delaying tactics in a bid to frustrate the state, much to the displeasure of the Guyanese public.

Do not speak for the Guyanese public. I know the habit of the PPP is addicted to acting in god mode but surely its water boys can at least pretend to be individuals. You cannot fool us when you speak for the public because you do not speak for us or our kin. This is  akin to a house slave reporting the masters illness to others as " we sick".

 The AML Bill was last year voted down by the combined opposition with its one-seat majority in Parliament, because the Select Committee which was established to review the concerns of the opposition and stakeholders over the AML Bill was closed off by government and sent to Parliament unfinished.