We have squandered much time

Dec 02, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We laud former Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, SC, for the areas he addressed in his blog, and as covered in our article captioned, “7 years later, Guyana struggling with basics for oil and gas sector -as migration crisis looms -Ramkarran” (KN November 23). Again, we commend former Speaker Ramkarran for his insights into the troubling areas he named, which leaves us with what we have before us, and if we are ever going to go to newer and higher places.
Seven years later is a long time to be languishing where we are. On this oil, it is an articulation of the feebleness of thought, uselessness of action, weakness of the state in which we find ourselves. For, if we can’t even get some of the basics right, then what the hell are we about, what are we doing, where are we going to end up? We will answer these questions in our usual fashion.
The APNU+AFC coalition showed that it was ill-prepared and unknowing of the vast new horizons that the oil discoveries made possible, and the many demanding obligations that went along with those. It went at it alone, and lost us much, leaving us with the meagre and monstrous. The numbers speak for themselves, the exploits and boasts of oil majors tell their own story, and our own woeful ignorance, lack of depth, and absence of oil wisdom leave us not just running to catch up, but falling farther and farther behind a galloping Exxon and its partners. This is not just about Exxon and company, but the whole array of projects and businesses; as well as those opportunities, needs, and things which we are sorely lacking, and that are now a disastrous part of Guyanese life.
What the APNU+AFC coalition commenced on the wrong foot, the PPP now takes and makes worse with one inexplicable and appalling leadership stupidity after another. From its time in the opposition, PPP leaders and analysts had numerous occasions to study what its political opponents were doing wrong, and to gear themselves up to overcome those serious errors. They had to do what is right for the country and its prospects, to deliver on the dreams of its hopeful peoples. But beyond that, the watchers in the PPP also had the openings to figure out what they would do to limit some areas, reverse the distinctive advantages enjoyed by Exxon. But they had to be about what was positive for the nation as a whole, and not for themselves. Not for what is devious and damaging still further to the national promise.
Instead, it has been quarreling and battling over politics and elections and divisions, while the energies and the arms needed to encircle the meanings of this oil wealth have eluded us. So, we are all not prepared, even though we know that we lack skills and talent. In fact, PPP leaders, operating under many subterfuges, have neutralised state agencies, or got rid of people who could have rendered pivotal assistance. The PPP has compounded the problem by building more trickily upon the shaky foundations laid by the APNU+AFC combination. It knows that it can’t deal with our oil business alone, but it persists with the utter foolishness that one man alone has what it takes to get us where we must go.
The consensus that can get us places is dismissed. Rather than move away from the partisan negative, it has fostered under different guises. Exxon is not devastating us, our political parties are, when they fail to appreciate what they must do: present a unified front, lead doggedly on oil management by building the basics, expanding the national oil architecture rung by rung (laws, husbandry, checks and balances). By obtaining what we need from inside and outside of the diaspora (know-how, expertise), by having a thoughtful immigration policy (residence, citizenship, temporary workers) that is sensitive to local political dynamics.
It starts with recognising our limitations, and that we are almost totally unready for oil challenges, including benefits, implications, and our own obligations. We have wasted much time; we lose the next two years, and we are dead. The oil will have left us behind.

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