Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh on Monday said there is no need for the National Commercial and Industrial Investments Limited (NICIL) to be restructured as all of its operations are being conducted within the confines of the Companies Act.
“NICIL operates within the law; NICIL is governed by the Companies Act,” he stated. Addressing the media at his office, Dr Singh stated that NICIL’s operations are “consistent with what is provided for in the Companies Act”. He said that the argument by the opposition that the funds accumulated by NICIL should be placed into the Consolidated Fund should not stop there, but should be extended to all other state entities.
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh
“NICIL’s operations are completely consistent with what is provided for in the Companies Act, and one cannot argue that NICIL’s funds should come into the Consolidated Fund and not argue the same for any other government entity.” The combined opposition has called for there to be prudent financial management of NICIL, noting that the entity needs to be restructured while emphasising the need for its financial assets to be brought into the Consolidated Fund.
“It was established… registered under the Companies Act, and operates within the framework of the Companies Act. It is the holding company, that is to say it is the company in whose name is vested the investments held by government and several government companies, so it is the holding company of government equity investments,” Dr Singh told the media.
He said that there are several other state-owned companies that operate within the confines of the Companies Act and they carry out their functions, “retain their revenue and costs… NICIL is no different….” NICIL was incorporated as a private limited company under the Companies Act, Chapter 89: 01 in July 1990 and is 100 per cent owned by the government of Guyana.
The main objectives of the company are to subscribe, take or otherwise acquire, hold, and manage government’s shares, stocks, debentures or other securities of any company, co-operative societies or other corporate body. This means that all government shareholdings in public corporations and companies, including those that fall under the Public Corporations Secretariat and the co-operative finance administration institutions were to be transferred to NICIL.
The objective is to have a unified and systematic management of government’s shareholdings. NICIL has a board of directors that consists of the finance minister, the head of the Presidential Secretariat, the CEO of Go-Invest, an opposition representative and the executive director of NICIL.
Frustrating development
Meanwhile, Dr Singh stated that the move by the combined opposition – the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) – to chop more than $20 billion from the 2012 budget was aimed at deliberately frustrating national development to fulfil their own political agendas.
He told the media that the opposition has offered “all manner of spurious and ridiculous explanations” for the cuts, but stated that none is justified and acceptable. He added that utterances by the combined opposition following the cuts suggest that it was a deliberate ploy to ensure that the people of Guyana fall prey of a political game.
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