Govt.’s tribal approach to oil and gas industry hurting development - Ramson

Govt.’s tribal approach to oil and gas industry hurting development – Ramson

Mar 20, 2018 News

Attorney-at-law, Charles Ramson

He is the holder of a Master’s degree in Oil and Gas Enterprise Management from the University of Aberdeen Scotland, United Kingdom; yet, Government is refusing to make use of him. Charles Ramson thinks that it is Government’s tribal approach to the building of the oil and gas industry that is causing him to be kept at bay.

Ramson returned to Guyana last year. He said that both he and the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, said that oil and gas is a national issue. It can change Guyana’s trajectory, therefore they were willing to lend a helping hand at any level.

Asked if the government made any attempt to work with him, Ramson, a member of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic, said that the government made public statements about its willingness to work with him, but no invitation was offered off camera.

“They made public statements through (Minister of Natural Resources) Trotman. When we had the business summit, he made a public statement there. He said, ‘I hope I can work with Charles Ramson.”

However, Ramson said, “The government has been fairly tribal about what it is doing.”

He said that he is well aware that tribal approaches are often taken in oil and gas economies. “This is so the political elites are the first to get rich. They also have to satisfy the people who they think are necessary to support them, to get back in office. So they skim off and share the spoils among those elites.”

Ramson continued, “Those people will hold top positions of institutions that are necessary for the good functioning of the oil industry and their jobs will just be to carry out the business of Government.”

Ramson said that it is quite clear that the fact that he is from the political opposition supersedes anything else he can offer.

Ramson said that he also knows that Government can import advisors and other experts needed. He said that the experts will have more experience.

“But I am a young Guyanese who want to contribute to the building of the industry the right way; I have a vested interest to create a better country for my child and for your child. But, they do not see that, they see that I am PPP so any other asset that I might bring to the table takes back seat.”

Ramson said that he has a fair idea that this would have been the case even before he took the scholarship, “But I saw it necessary as a young leader, as a young Guyanese to know about our new frontier.”

Forbes Burnham, the founder of the People National Congress Reform (PNCR), a powerful party in the government, had set the example decades ago. During the Burnham era, he worked with many young intelligent Guyanese who were qualified in various fields; some of those persons were PPP.

A good example would be Steve Naraine, an engineer who was considered to be among the best. Government would not have been creating history if it had utilised the services offered by Ramson.

In 2016, Ramson resigned as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect to pursue a Master’s Degree in oil and gas.

Even back then, he spoke of the need for the youth of Guyana to be given more prominence.

Ramson had registered his disappointment at the lack of youth representation in the House.

“It is absolutely critical for our national development that we have Guyanese who are technically trained in the oil and gas sector. This is particularly important for us as a nation in this preparatory phase as we frame the relevant policy, law and vision if we are to avoid the often cited ‘resource curse’ commonly associated with oil and gas producing nations.”

According to Ramson, there is no doubt that the absence of any member of the Cabinet with any such technical training or experience in the sector will have a “militating effect on the pace and quality of development not only of the nascent sector but of the country.”

Ramson explained that it was for this reason that he applied for and was offered a place to study at one of the best oil and gas universities in the world.

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