The secret deal

Jun 30, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One year ago, I met a young man who had just left school. He said that he was looking for a job and asked me if I knew of any openings. He had ten subjects at the CSEC, all with impressive grades. He had sent out close to eighty job applications, but received no favorable response.
He said that he was desperate for a job. He showed me his hands. They were soft. He said even though he had never done a day’s hard work in his life, he would be willing even to take on a manual work just to get his foot in the job market.
I saw him again this past week. My first question to him was whether he had nailed down a job. He answered in the negative. But he added that he was no longer interested in a job.
Puzzled, I asked him why. He looked at me with an equally astonished look. He said, “You didn’t hear that Guyana discovered oil?”
I asked him what that had to do with him not seeking a job.
He said, “I hear that when the oil revenues begin to flow that the unemployment relief will be US$5,000 per month.”
There are lots of Guyanese like him. They are of the view that every month, they will get a cheque in the mail. There are even some Guyanese pensioners in the USA who are of the belief that Granger will pay old age pensioners in Guyana US$5,000 per month. Many of them are planning to come back to Guyana to register for old age pensions so that when the windfall comes, they can cash in.
All these persons, and those like that young unemployed man who are no longer interested in working, had better wake up and smell the coffee. By the time ExxonMobil is finished with Guyana and its oil, there is no certainty how much money Guyana will obtain.
Guyanese are speculating about oil riches. There is no information out there as to what Guyana will obtain under the deal it has made or is making with the oil giant ExxonMobil. The whole deal is being kept under tabs as if it is a state secret.
The first question Guyanese should be asking is just what is in store for the people. Just how much Guyana will be receiving and how will Guyana know that this is what it is entitled to under the deal. What is the rate of royalties to be paid? And how does this compare to what is paid around the world?
Guyana is new to oil. The only oil Guyanese have ever produced is coconut oil, crab oil, linseed oil and, of course, the most popular of all, snake oil.
Trinidad and Tobago had an oil industry even before they gained Independence. They therefore took over an oil industry with people who had institutional knowledge. Guyana is starting from scratch and if it does not look out, it may end up with nothing, because from what has been made public, whatever Guyana is due to receive will be dependent on the honesty of ExxonMobil in declaring what they have invested and the cost of extracting the oil.
The next question to be asked is what mechanisms are in place to ensure that Guyana can verify just how much oil is pumped, the cost of production, and the actual investment which ExxonMobil has made.
The statement made by a top government official, that suggests the government will rely on the honesty of the oil company, is frightening. It shows the government does not appreciate fully just who it is dealing with.
Kaieteur News will come in for a lot of flak for the series that it has run to apprise Guyanese of some of the things to which they should be paying attention. Kaieteur News is doing the public a service. The government, however, needs to put itself in order before it starts to receive orders from ExxonMobil.

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The secret deal

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