A Case for an Autonomous Oil and Gas Commission

Mar 19, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
According to the Executive Secretary of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) of Nigeria, 90 percent of the corruption in that country involves the oil and gas sector. He also claims that about $13 billion was paid to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, but that money was never deposited into the account (Onwuemenyi 2016).
In March 2016, The Atlantic reported that the national oil company ‘failed to pay $16 billion’ in oil revenue to the Nigerian state treasury. And in Mexico, one estimate is that PEMEX, the national oil company there, ‘loses at least $1 billion a year to corruption’ (Weiner 2003).
We can examine just about every oil producing country in the southern hemisphere, and we will see that corruption has hindered the development of every one of them. Will Guyana be different? If countries such as Mexico and Nigeria are unable to stop the theft of its oil revenue, then why should we expect that Guyana’s oil revenue would also not be stolen by those who are in power today or some time in the future?
But Guyana can defy the odds. The oil industry is still in an infancy state. The legislative structures are yet to be developed and therefore the time to get it right is now. The development of our oil and gas policies should assume that human beings are inclined to be corrupt, and therefore deterrent as well as punitive mechanisms should be built in from the start.
One way to help deter corruption in the oil sector is through a check-and-balance system. An autonomous Oil and Gas Commission could achieve this objective.
An independent and autonomous oil and gas commission would be able to exercise oversight by conducting regular hearings, taking formal complaints and reviewing existing rules and procedures to ensure proper ethical standards are observed.
Such a commission could be empowered by Parliament to have limited policing powers or the ability to recommend criminal charges as necessary. This would be deterrent measure to help preserve the integrity of the oil industry and protect Government officials and other managers from themselves.
It is hoped that this Government develops the framework so that the oil revenue from this important natural resource is not siphoned off to Chinese or other foreign bank accounts but used to improve the quality of life for Guyanese of tomorrow. For this we need selfless leaders who might somehow find the courage to develop a system that can protect the country’s money from themselves and more importantly, from future Governments.
How this sector is developed will surely be one of President Granger’s legacy.
Max Mohamed

References: Onwuemenyi, Oscarline. 2016. “90% Corruption in Nigeria in Oil Sector, Says NEITI.” www.Sweetcrudereports.Com, December 21, 2016. http://sweetcrudereports.com/2016/12/21/90-corruption-in-nigeria-in-oil-sector-says-neiti/.
Weiner, Tim. 2003. “Corruption and Waste Bleed Mexico’s Oil Lifeline.” The New York Times, January 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/21/world/corruption-and-waste-bleed-mexico-s-oil-lifeline.html.

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