What could have been!

Apr 05, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It was around the late 1940s that a group of men working for a prospector struck a rich vein along the banks of one of the creeks. It was a major find. The workers were bringing up nuggets. They could not believe their lucky stars.
The celebrations began almost immediately. The men knew what the find meant. They were working on a 10% commission basis and they knew that what they would each earn from this discovery would make them rich beyond even their wildest dreams.
The celebrations went on for days. They were quite happy to spend all that they had earned previously because they knew that when the nuggets were sold, they would each end up being extremely rich based on their 10% commission.
They did not cater for their unscrupulous boss who arbitrarily decided that because of the nature of the find, he would only give them 1% of its worth instead of 10%. The men only knew this after they had completed their “wash down” and left the concession area.
Their boss was a powerful man and they were forced to accept 1% instead of 10%. All the big plans they had for their families had to be put on hold. Their earnings were still substantial but it was not what they expected and deserved. Instead of being millionaires, they ended up with a few thousand each, which was plenty money back then. Instead of buying plantations on which to retire, they ended up with a comfortable house but had to return to the gold fields to sustain their families.
It is the same scenario that is playing out with ExxonMobil. Instead of every Guyanese becoming a millionaire in US dollars, each person will take home a mere US$ 40 per month based on oil production being 120,000 barrels of oil per day. There is talk about 500,000 barrels per day but even that will not make any citizen a millionaire overnight.
ExxonMobil was greedy. It limited what Guyana’s got for its oil. Guyana got a poor bargain. This occurred because of ExxonMobil’s superior negotiating skills. Exxon walked away with the riches while Guyana got a miserly commission.
The government, which negotiated away Guyana’s patrimony is asking the Guyanese people to be more concerned about how they will spend the oil revenues and not focus so much on what was obtained. Well, is it not the same government that will decide how the money will be spent? If the government can no longer be trusted to negotiate a fair deal, how can it be trusted to spend the oil revenues wisely?
There is a lot of talk now about placing the oil revenues into a Sovereign Wealth Fund, but we know what that means. It means that the monies will have to be invested elsewhere. This is what led to debt crisis in the 1980’s.
The oil producing nations deposited their surplus in the West who then lent them money, with interest, to developing countries. Developing countries ended up being buried in debt while the western countries smiled all the way to the bank.
A Sovereign Wealth Fund sounds nice in theory but it is just another scheme for western financial capital to get their hands on more money, which they can use for financial speculation, the same kind of speculation which led to the global financial crisis of 2008.
Guyana does not need any Sovereign Wealth Fund. It is not as if Guyana will be enjoying 15% royalties, 30% taxes and 50-50 split of profit oil. Guyana’s take is 14.5%, which regardless of whether 120,000 barrels or 500,000 barrels are produced will not make the average man a millionaire overnight.
The Guyanese people must advise their government that the monies must be divided equally among the resident population. Every Guyanese should receive a cheque in the mail each month. This would be much better than spending it on infrastructure, which will only make the contractors rich.
It is time for the workers of Guyana to benefit from the oil nuggets. It is time for teachers, and policemen and nurses receive a 100% increase in salaries. This is where the money should go, not be tied up in a Sovereign Wealth Fund.

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