The Story within the Story… Why are we not taking ownership of this piece of land?

Jul 08, 2018 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

As I get older, some things become so very clear. Our time is limited. In less than a blink of an eye, we could no longer be here.

Our pursuit of the dollar, some philosophers have argued, is like a dog chasing its tail. It is a vicious cycle in which few take time to really breathe. We should really take time out, carry the family for a drive, buy some Chinese takeout and sit on the seawall. These are the moments to cherish.

I have had the fortunate experience of travelling around Guyana, flying to some destinations that quite a number of our people, I would wager, never even heard about. It is a sad state of affairs.

Yet we know which corner in Manhattan that Macy’s is located.

This past week, I attended the graduation of my little son. He is moving to secondary now.

I am by no means a rich man, but there was a good feeling that day that all was well in the universe and we seem to be on the right path.

At the New Diamond/Grove Primary School, there were reasons to be proud. A six-year-old primary school has managed to nudge out all the rest of the public schools, with a student coming fourth at the National Grade Six Assessment.

Not remarkable in any way, except that the students who placed in the top three are all from private schools.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon has credited the performance for a number of interventions, including the expanding school-feeding programme and extra lessons.

We still have a far way to go. There are many hinterland communities with unsung stories. Some children did well, paddling boats for miles to attend school. A number of them wore slippers. A number of them, I am told, had none.

As I sat in the graduation, I saw parents and teachers, from all walks of life, beaming with pride.

It pleases our hearts when our children do well. In 2015 when the Coalition Government came into power, there was a groundswell of patriotism that struck a deep chord.

We listened as a hoarse David Granger stood on the balcony of the Parliament Buildings and sang. The next day, a cleanup of the city began.

Three years later, I am deeply unhappy. I see an Opposition that refuses to take up its place on state boards. I see criticisms but little solutions being offered.

I see a private sector where some members are wildly ambitious to the point of being dangerously partisan. They had little voices in the previous administration.

DISCIPLINE TIME

Yes, we are in exciting times, but we have to discipline ourselves and focus on grabbing a piece of the action that will spill from oil and gas.

On Friday, we learnt of ExxonMobil appearing before a Parliamentary committee to brief our representatives from both sides of the House on activities leading up to the 2020 production start of oil and gas.

From indications and published reports, what should have been the biggest stage to score some points all fizzled. Our reps simply were not prepared.

I am a layman but there are a few things I understand.

Let us cut to the chase and put things into perspective here. ExxonMobil is here because it has a responsibility to its shareholders to deliver profits.  That is the ultimate motive and the faster we understand investors the better.

That US company has programmes that as a corporate citizen it will contribute, like to the university for oil programmes or for conservation or even sporting activities.

It is an accepted fact that we dropped the ball as an opening about two years ago when we issued a production licence for oil.

In hindsight, we could have hired top lawyers who are in the know to help us to hammer a better deal.

I rather suspect that there was little we could have done to improve on original agreements that were signed by the previous administration in 1999.

We are a frontier country and unless ExxonMobil had the technology to determine what else was there in the waters of Guyana before commitment into a US$4B-plus investment for Liza1, we have done well in getting the oil ball rolling.

We only have to look at the growing alternatives of fossil oil, including solar, wind and hydro, to understand that the long term prospects of the black gold is not so long term.

This means, we have to move fast to capture the prices.

We do expect the Government to enforce arrangements that will see ExxonMobil relinquishing oil blocks periodically as is the norm when they are not being developed.

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

Our parliamentarians on Friday had a golden opportunity to really question ExxonMobil officials. They dropped the ball.

I don’t believe a Parliamentarian actually asked ExxonMobil whether they did anything to ensure we have laws on local content. Really? Who is the lawmaker here?

In the media, in the last few months, the criticisms and comments about the ExxonMobil deal were making headlines. It is a big deal, our representatives should know.

We have to get it right. We need to know about our options.

We only need to look at Trinidad and Venezuela right here in the region to comprehend that blunders were made. Two countries which are struggling because of the absence, over time, of proper planning, and a huge reliance on oil revenues, which have now exposed their weaknesses when prices would have dropped.

Oil prices are rising and Trinidad desperately would have wanted to increase its outputs to capitalize. Unfortunately, it will not be enough.

Barbados is calling in the IMF as it does not have money. Antigua, we are told, has little money to pay its workers.

We were the scorn of the region, known as among the poorest countries in this hemisphere. Our people would tell you of problems in getting a visa to the US and being placed on a bench in Barbados.

Today, the whole world is watching and the vultures are circling. I will be quick to point out, that there are, however, decent investors who are here too.

If you have the time, visit Marriott or Pegasus. They will tell you that the oil activities are a boon. The rooms are being filled. The restaurants there are doing good business.

For all I have said, it is therefore not a good feeling that our Parliamentarians from both sides of the bench have lost a golden opportunity. We were out of our depth, floundering in the waters.

There are thousands of Guyanese who will be coming back soon from Venezuela. That is inevitable. We have investors who are coming for the other oil blocks. From all indications, there is oil and ExxonMobil will likely be joined by other production facilities in coming here.

Our property prices will rise. Our passports will take on new meaning.

As a people, it is our duty to demand that our representatives do their job. The Opposition, I am told, has a fiduciary duty to ensure that the interests of all Guyanese are protected.

The administration has the responsibility of ensuring our deals have the best possible outcomes and are conducted in processes of accountability and transparency that are beyond question.

After all has been said and done, the obvious questions that remain include whether our politicians truly understand their role and whether we are doing enough to taking ownership of this country.

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