10 of 14 Opposition amendments in Local Content Bill agreed to by Gov’t

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, announced yesterday that the government has
agreed to 10 out of the 14 amendments for the Local Content Bill that were put forward by the
Opposition, APNU+AFC. Bharrat shared this on Wednesday when he spoke on the Local
Content Bill in the National Assembly.
Minister Bharrat said that one of the accepted amendments includes changing the name of the
Inter-Agency Committee to Local Content Oversight Committee. The minister noted that this
committee will be tasked with ensuring the monitoring of local content commitments. He pointed
out that the government agreed to allow an Opposition Member of Parliament (M.P) to sit on this
body.
The Natural Resources minister said that another amendment includes the publishing of the
Local Content Secretariat on the website of the ministry responsible for petroleum or any other
media in wide circulation on the Local Content Register, which shall be updated quarterly.
Further, the changes note that a contractor, sub-contractor or licencee without the written
permission of the minister acting on the advice of the Secretariat and the Local Content
Oversight Committee, shall not enter into any contract in excess of three years; it also calls for
the choosing of members from 10 different local agencies, including the National Toshaos
Council, Transparency International Guyana Incorporated, and the Guyana Bar Association.
Further, this Committee shall consist of not more than seven members appointed by the
President. The Opposition proposes that these nominations arise from the 10 agencies listed in
the document. The minister added that the Opposition also proposed the changing of the Local
Content Bill’s definition of a Guyanese national to mean a citizen of Guyana by birth.
However, the Minister was quick to air the government’s disapproval of this proposed
amendment. Added to this, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Mohabir Anil Nandlall,
S.C., said that for the Opposition to make this recommendation, it would be “highly
discriminatory” and “myopic”. “That is only one aspect, one way in which you get citizenship.
You have citizenship by marriage, citizenship by naturalization, you have citizenship by
descent,” Nandlall stressed.  Minister Bharrat during his presentation, also shared that the
government made attempts to discuss with the APNU+AFC, its amendments proposed on the
Bill. He pointed out that a meeting was scheduled for Wednesday morning before the debates
between the Natural Resources Minister; Minister Nandlall, as well as the Finance Minister, Dr.
Ashni Singh, and MPs from the other side. That meeting, it was noted never materialised and the
Minister added that the Opposition asked that the matter be dealt with during the parliamentary
session.
The minister assured that efforts are being made to ensure prudent management of Guyana’s oil
and gas industry.