A heavyweight should head the proposed Department of Energy

Jul 31, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Are Guyanese people really interested in good governance? Or are they really interested in ensuring that the party or parties which they support rule?

Each day we see missteps by the government, yet its supporters seem unconcerned that these mistakes can have major economic consequences for the nation. The government is not being pressured from within to correct what seem to be glaring gaffes

On the other hand, Kaieteur News has been maligned by pro-government lackeys and sycophants. And for what? For simply exposing the fact that Guyana was outclassed and outfoxed by Exxon Mobil during the renegotiation of the oil contract. Exxon had the superior negotiators. They took full advantage of Guyana’s weakness to seal a deal which is overwhelmingly in their favour.

Even when it came to the signing bonus and social responsibility contributions by Exxon, Guyana was outmaneuvered. Conservation International was able to receive US$10M from Exxon Mobil’s Trust Fund. In contrast, Guyana’s negotiators could only manage to squeeze a parsimonious US$18M signing bonus for rights to our four billion barrels of oil.

No mass protests greeted the bungling of the renegotiation on the Exxon contract. People seemed unperturbed. Perhaps they agreed with the government that better would be done in the future and that lessons of the poor handling of the Exxon Mobil deal would be learnt.

The lesson of those negotiations was that in the future Guyana should ensure it has the best negotiators when dealing with oil multinationals. When the President therefore announced that he was establishing a Department of Energy, it was hoped that such an important office would be headed by a heavyweight in oil and gas matters.

The news now emerging out of social media is that the government is soon to appoint an environmental economist to head its Department of Energy. This is a stunning development.

It is not what many people would have expected. Perhaps it is the shock or the hope that the information provided is somehow incorrect, which has not led to a firestorm of criticisms as yet.

If the news is to be believed, then the government has many questions to answer. First, they will have to indicate whether such a critical post was advertised internationally and who were the candidates who were shortlisted; who were the members of the interviewing panel, what were the skill sets which were being sought and why an environmental economist was chosen and not someone who has had experience in negotiating or managing a national oil and gas industry.

The American media is at present having a field day in criticizing the mess Donald Trump is making with his hiring and firing of persons. He is said to be going for persons without White House experience.

And this is ironic, because it is known that in his personal business, Trump has been very savvy with his hiring practices. In his private business, he has shown a preference for hiring persons with the right experience and who have achievements to their names, as against those who come with impressive academic qualifications but little practical experience in the fields in which they are expected to perform.

Whoever is hired to head the Department of Energy must be a heavyweight. Guyanese must have confidence in that person’s ability – and that person’s ability alone – to secure the best deal for Guyana in future negotiations and dealings with oil multinationals who hire the very best. The person chosen must be able to command the respect as an equal with those on the other side of the negotiating table.