President Ali appoints Natural Resource Fund’s Board, Joe Singh selected as Chairman

Georgetown: President, Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday appointed the first Board of Directors of Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund.

Major General (ret’d), Joseph Singh was named as its Chairman, the Board will also include United Kingdom parliamentarian, David Lammy; Carolyn Rodrigues; Dunstan Barrow; and Ramesh Dookhoo. The Directors will likely take their Oath of Office at the President’s Shiv Chanderpaul Drive office.

According to the President’s office: “Section 3 (1) of the Natural Resources Fund Act 2021, Act No. 19 of 2021, assented to by His Excellency, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali on the 30th day of December 2021, establishes the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) to manage the natural resource wealth of Guyana for the present and future benefit of the people in an effective and efficient manner and in accordance with the principles of good governance, transparency, accountability, and international best practices, including, the Santiago Principles.

“Section 5 (1) of the said Act provides for a Board of Directors of the Fund comprising of not less than three (3) and not more than five (5) members, who shall be appointed by the President, inclusive of a chairperson.

In accordance with Section 5 (2), these Directors are selected from persons who have wide experience in legal, financial, business or administrative matters, one of whom shall be nominated by the National Assembly and one of whom shall be a representative of the private sector.

In pursuance thereof, at the 46th Sitting of the National Assembly of the 12th Parliament of Guyana, held on the 13th day of April 2022, a Motion was unanimously passed approving Mr Dunstan Barrow, nominated by the Standing Committee on Appointments of the National Assembly, as a Director of the Board of Directors, of the Fund. After consulting with the various organisations representing the private sector, Mr Ramesh Dookoo was selected as a representative of the private sector.”