Patterson, Trotman not included in Parliament’s Natural Resources Committee

Nov 21, 2020 News

Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson

Former Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman

Kaieteur News – Despite holding relations close to the natural resources sector, as well as the expertise, former Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, and former Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson, were not included as members of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources.
Instead, former Minister of State, Dawn Hastings-Williams; former Minister of Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes; Members of Parliament (MP), Vincent P. Henry and Deonarine Ramsaroop, were nominated to serve on the committee. Notably, these proposals were made by Trotman himself, and seconded by Sherod Duncan.
This committee has critical oversight responsibilities for the mining, forestry and oil and gas sector.
It is unclear why Trotman, who signed the infamous, lopsided Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with ExxonMobil, was not included in the committee.
It is presumed, however, that the recent breakdown between the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), which resulted in Patterson’s resignation as General Secretary of the AFC, may have had something to do with his non-inclusion in the said committee.
Both APNU and AFC were part of the governing coalition between 2015 and 2020. They lost the elections.
Patterson was touted to be the shadow Oil and Gas Minister, who would have brought some degree of know-how to the sector, as he was involved as the Public Infrastructure Minister in talks with the operator (Exxon) to bring gas from the Liza field to shore for the powering of Guyana’s energy needs.

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