Rescind that oil contract

Feb 13, 2018 Letters

Dear Mr Editor,

Please allow me space in your column to pen this letter with utmost disgust. I’m no politician, university graduate or a scholar, just someone with basic common sense and understanding; a common man. It makes me sick to my stomach when I read the contract that our honourable Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, and his team of well qualified experts that spent all those years at various colleges and universities made with the oil giant ExxonMobil.
How could someone or persons of that calibre of intellect, with so many qualifications and degrees, people who spent so many years of studying at various reputable universities, sign a contract so terrible?
I doubt not even a fish vendor at Stabroek Market would negotiate such a deal. I think it hurts all sound-minded and patriotic Guyanese. The royalty increase of 1% more than what the PPP/C signed in 1999 is more than ridiculous.
It’s a slap in the face and a disgrace to all Guyanese. How much longer will it take you Guyanese to arise from your sleep and slumber wake up and smell the coffee? Or have you lost your courage to stand up for your rights, for what is rightfully ours and what belongs to all Guyanese and stop segregating ourselves?
The only way things can go right is we have to demand it from our leaders because we are the ones that elect them. I think we could and must do better than this. We shouldn’t have made any mistakes when it came to signing that contract.
If only the experts that spent so many years in college had some common sense it might have been a little better. Why didn’t they review other oil contracts that other countries signed before they signed away our country’s wealth to foreign investors?
It clearly shows that our elected officials haven’t been learning from the mistakes of other oil producing countries and that could be a tragedy. I hope we don’t end up like our other oil producing neighbours. It’s best we make use of the other resources that we’re already using and leave our oil where it is.
Our past leaders of this beloved land must be turning in their graves to see the people who we have elected to represent the best of our interest, sell out our country for less than 50cents. And our society seems so silent on the real issues that will affect them severely like they have lost their courage to stand up for their rights and demand what’s rightfully ours.
The resources of this country belong to each and every Guyanese citizen and not people who we put to manage them. Don’t be fooled by the dreams that they sell us. Where will we really be as a country next 15 years.
For better or worse the contract should be rescinded and renegotiated for the better of all Guyanese.

O. HALLEY

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