Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
Latest News
Disclosure is key to keeping corruption at bay in the oil industry – Expert
By Kiana Wilburg
There are two key reasons why countries fail to make petroleum resources a success.
Executive Director of Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), Gavin Hayman
One reason is that the political elites use the nation’s oil resources for their own gains. The other is due to inefficient spending which leaves a country trapped in a cycle of underdevelopment.
This is the observation of Executive Director of Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), Gavin Hayman.
But the Illicit Financial Flows Expert says that readers should not be disheartened by this dismal picture, since the antidote does exist to reverse things.
During his first appearance on Kaieteur Radio’s Guyana’s Oil and You, Hayman said that the remedy for keeping corruption at bay includes the disclosure of all pieces of information relevant to the sector.
Expounding on his position, Hayman said, “There are two key reasons why countries fail with oil. First is that it is a huge amount of money and often, the elites who rule the country choose to spend that money on themselves and on reinforcing their own political power as opposed to investing the money in the economy and for the betterment of the citizenry.”
Hayman, who has led global efforts to end money laundering and financial crimes, stressed that the oil money comes in huge volumes and therefore serves to encourage corruption and patronage.
Pointing to the second reason, the transparency advocate, who holds a Doctorate from the University of Reading added, “The huge surge of money in itself, lends to binge spending. It pushes up inflation and makes (sections of) the economy less competitive. But disclosure and transparency are key parts of the antidote.”
The Executive Director of OCP, (a silo-busting collaboration of governments, companies, technologists and civil society that work to open up public contracting through disclosure), said that Guyanese need to keep their eyes on the oil money, given the temptation and challenges that come with it.
Further to this, the former Executive Director of international anti-corruption body, Global Witness, was keen to note that while transparency is the place to start, citizens should not stop there. He said, “You also need checks and balances and accountability from the politicians, the regulators, and others to ensure the money is spent well.”
GUYANA’S STRUGGLE FOR DISCLOSURE
Since the birth of Guyana’s oil industry, there has been an unrelenting struggle between the media and the government for the disclosure of key pieces of information from the latter.
Take for example the release of the ExxonMobil Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). For more than a year, the media had to protest via daily publications for the ExxonMobil contract to be released. It finally became public on December 28, 2017.
Following this was the call for the Bridging Deed, which replaced the 1999 Agreement and the 1999 Petroleum Prospecting Licence.
The document paved the way for a new contract which retained some of the provisions to the old contract along with a few modifications to the fiscal terms.
That document was not released to the public despite numerous requests. Only recently, Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram got a hold of it. He told Kaieteur News yesterday that it was at the deeds registry but no one was told about this.
Compounding this is the fact that the government gave the impression to this newspaper that it was a secret document while noting that only Sir Shridath Ramphal could authorize its release. (https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2018/02/01/nothing-sinister-about-bridging-deed/)
Further to this, Kaieteur News has also called on the government to release the Field Development Plans which holds key information about the costs of the Liza Phase One and Two projects but there was no interest in doing so.
This newspaper would have also called on the government to reveal the names of the persons who negotiated the Guyana-ExxonMobil deal and to state the names of the international institutions that provided advice in this regard. But to date, the Granger administration is yet to provide a response.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The eternal optimism of the human spirit
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Every New Year’s Eve, like clockwork, we engage in a ritual that is predictable as... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
