Harmon continues to claim ignorance on award of Kaieteur, Canje Blocks

Oct 10, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon, continues to claim ignorance when Kaieteur News questioned him about the giveaway of two lucrative oil blocks in the weeks leading up to the 2015 General and Regional Elections.

Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon

Despite it being that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) signed away the blocks, the coalition which Harmon leads is just as complicit. It had approved several transfers of interests for the blocks in its governing term, but is likely to have stonewalled efforts by the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) to get information vital to its investigation.
Internationally respected anti-corruption watchdog, Global Witness said in its February 2020 report, Signed Away, that a source close to government informed it of this likelihood. When asked to respond to the claim during his weekly press conference yesterday, Harmon avoided answering directly.
“Let me say that I am not in a position this week to indicate to you. But I did say in my press conference last week that we will have a special conference on the question of oil and gas. That has not happened as yet. I will inform you when that will take place. But it is something that the team is looking at carefully.
I am not in a position to say to you anything on those blocks, beyond what I have said and beyond what is published in the media, Kaieteur News in particular.”
The Opposition Leader gave a similar answer in the previous week’s virtual conference when asked to reveal the identities of all the beneficial owners of the blocks.
He only offered that he would endeavour to have information provided later, during an oil-specific press conference.
For the entirety of the coalition’s term in government, Harmon was a key figure at the helm of the Ministry of the Presidency. He was Minister of State, then Director General. Throughout that period, the Ministry of Natural Resources fell under the Presidency.
The coalition would not have had to rely on information from outside sources, since it should have already been in possession of such information while in government. This is because, every time stakes were transferred in the two blocks, the government is responsible for approving the transfer. In this regard, when signing deals, the government has to know the hands the stakes are leaving, and the hands to which they will go.

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