Be upfront on oil renegotiation

Sep 22, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

In reference to your ongoing series on how the country is being robbed of oil resources, increased pressure is warranted to get an increase in the royalty and revenue sharing. The support for democracy was done not out of good of western nation’s heart but of guarantee of oil and gas contract. The western nations would benefit enormously from the emerging oil sector. So far, we are not. Therefore, every effort must be made to have the oil contract renegotiated to the benefit of ordinary Guyanese with a few more percentages in the royalty (to 10%).
I am worried that too many tainted figures are lurking around the government. It looks like the people voted for immorality and nepotism with several tainted characters back in government. PPP has returned to its same old behavior and some of the same tainted characters. That does not augur well for the future. It is like PPP did not learn anything from being in the opposition for over five years.
Family and friends of the PPP would be beneficiaries of oil – nepotism. The PPP must understand that it barely won a majority. The Granger government was the worse the country experienced and yet PPP only managed to get just over 50% of the votes. Clearly, PPP does not enjoy overwhelming support. Given racism in country and corruption over the five years, it was not a big win and defeat is inevitable come next time.
It should be clear to PPP that it would not have won the election if the coalition were not racist and corrupt. And had it not been for the intervention of US and western diplomats, the coalition would have stayed in power. The coalition controls the military and the police. The coalition’s supporters don’t need much cajoling to use force to cripple the government. We saw that in West Berbice earlier this month.
If the small parties had gotten 2,000 votes more or if all the small parties had come together, the PPP would have been a minority government. If Harmon and Granger were to walk, APNU would recover support and once again become popular. Volda has reemerged as a likeable person, forgiving the statement that only “PNC people” would be hired by her in the Ministry of Health and Indians are speaking well of Volda after she dissociated from the violence. Had APNU behaved itself, the small parties would have ganged up with the coalition holding the PPP accountable. The government must be upfront with the public on oil – is it willing to seek renegotiation?
Yours truly,
Haresh S Kumar

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