Foreign experts support viewpoints expressed by patriots

Jun 01, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
I wonder if Guyana will wake up and smell the coffee now that two prominent international experts on political risks have joined me and other patriots in warning that Guyana’s oil bonanza could cause corruption in high places to skyrocket and uproot democracy, independence and all the principles and values we hold dear.
This week, news broke that Thiago de Aragao, Director of the Latin American Political Risk Analysis, is urging the Government to strengthen systems governing the electoral process, taxation and regulation because, if they are not up to standard, Guyana’s democracy can end up being “choked by oil and gas money”.
Referring to petroleum investors’ intentions, Aragao warned: “The business plan is to burn it all”; and to do so, investors will seek to exert influence in every place they can.
This echoed my warning early this year that we must guard against this very same thing.
In my letter to the media published in February 2018, I wrote: “ExxonMobil . . . puts their interests first. It is simply good business sense for them to use all their bargaining power to ensure that the interests of their shareholders and directors come first and their opportunities for expansion and investment are protected”.
Aragao also warned that “there must be a clear set of rules for taxation in the oil and gas industry as well as environmental regulation.
I recall that I also warned about ‘hungry-belly’ officials being sucked into corruption by investors.
In a letter published in March 2018, I referred to the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund to manage Guyana’s oil monies and warned that it “will definitely fatten the eyes of every corrupt politician and official.
Even those who are not yet corrupt will be exposed to enormous temptation . . . many would be unable to resist”.
I read in a separate news report, that another expert, Executive Director of Agency for Security, Energy and the Environment (ASEA) of Mexico, Carlos De Regules, called for a strong, independent regulatory body to monitor the activities of investors and guarantee environmental protection of Guyana.
He noted that such an environmental body cannot do its job effectively unless it is independent and free from any instance of political interference.
He also commented: “They should also be financially independent so they can plan for the long term and have the resources to do so”.
This calls to mind a warning in my letter in March about the Sovereign Wealth Fund that “We have to put powerful transparency and accountability mechanisms in place to protect the Sovereign Wealth Fund (to manage oil revenue) from being subject to wrongdoing and poor investments”.
Like De Regules, I recognise that political interference will stifle national development.
I recall writing a letter to the media in February pointing out that Guyana is like virgin territory for ExxonMobil, presenting a gem of an opportunity to show the peoples of the world how the company can make a nation shine on many fronts and erase the negative image plastered upon them by critics in many nations.
It is not my nature to criticize without offering solutions. For the record, let me once again draw attention to some points that I made in previous letters, which seem to be even more relevant in light of media reports about the recent statements by the two experts referenced above.
In a nutshell: Guyana’s oil revenue must be put under the supervision and scrutiny of a multi stakeholder Board that comprises independent professionals drawn from civic society.
It can include accomplished professionals, religious bodies, the Private Sector Commission, the Chamber of Commerce and officials from CARICOM or elsewhere, provided they are competent and free from political interference. A Board such as this will more effectively serve as a watchdog against corruption by those in power.
Guyana has a lot of foreign-minded people, so maybe more persons will heed these warnings because they come from foreign experts who have basically used elegant, technical terms to make exactly the same points that I and other local observers have been making for a long time now.
Sincerely,
Roshan Khan Snr.

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