Jagdeo is making excuses

May 01, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Guyana’s Second Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, with every commentary, is revealing why he is unsuited for managing the oil and gas sector. His most recent tantrum was to argue that the establishment of an independent Petroleum Commission does not guard against corruption.
Without naming any countries, he asserted last Friday that “…some countries with the worst corruption track record but they have petroleum regulators that are supposedly ‘independent.’ So a Petroleum Commission is not a safeguard against corruption. It is utter nonsense (to believe that it is).”
Unlike what Jagdeo says, the real nonsense is emanating from his own lips. An independent petroleum commission is not an absolute safeguard against corruption but it certainly offers much greater protection than having a government-controlled Commission or not having a Commission at all.
By Jagdeo’s strange logic, an independent Board of the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) does not insulate the Fund from government domination. And indeed, the Natural Resources Fund Act (NRFA) makes the Board subservient to the Minister responsible for Finance.
This subservience is expressed in the Act itself. It says that the Board is accountable to the Minister and is expected to comply with general directives of the Minister.
Should the public now assume that the NRF Board is not insulated against political interference? And was it not Jagdeo’s government which had plugged for an independent NRF Board?
Yet, his administration appointed two persons, one of whom was for 11 years his Special Assistant and is presently employed in the Office of the President. The other was a former Minister of the Government and is Guyana’s representative to the United Nations, and thus subject to the direction of a Minister.
Jagdeo’s government has failed to bring before the National Assembly a revised Petroleum Commission Act. Certainly, given the state of the sector’s regulatory architecture, this had to have been a priority of the government.
The PPP/C in its Manifesto had committed to a regulatory framework that is independent of politicians. This framework obviously cannot be limited to the NRF but has to include the all-important Petroleum Commission.
That independence was emphasised when in his Inauguration Address the newly minted President announced that the establishment of the commission will “ensure that the oil and gas sector is not subjected to undue political interference”.
It was soon after that announcement that Second Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, held his first press conference since taking the oath of office. At that press conference, it was Jagdeo who said that the Commission would be a technical commission and comprise of some of the best brains, including Guyanese.
It was explained then that the Commission would be responsible for the day-to-day functions of the oil and gas sector rather than there being input from the President or Ministers. Jagdeo said that Minister’s role would be more policy-oriented.
He promised then that the Petroleum Commission would be established within eight months. And despite the Attorney General claiming more than one year ago that a new Petroleum Bill was under active consideration, there is still no Commission in place.
Jagdeo has not offered an explanation for this dereliction. Instead he is now making excuses by claiming that the Commission is no guarantee against corruption.
The slothfulness in appointing a Commission comes against the background of two developments. The first of these is the scandalous failure of the government to audit some US$9B in claims and expenses. The deadline for this audit has passed and the country – meaning you and me – will now have to pay these expenses, regardless of the government still saying that it will still audit these expenses.
Initially, we were told that there was no local capability to undertake such an audit. Now suddenly, we are being told that an audit firm has been identified. This is a most interesting development – there is more on the pestle than on the mortar.
The second major development is that Jagdeo himself has announced that the government will by September decide whether it will auction oil blocks or establish a national oil company with a strategic investor.
If by now and September, the Petroleum Commission is not established, it will be the politicians who will have the responsibility of allocating oil blocks, either through option or lease arrangements under a national oil company. And given past experience, this is far from a comforting thought.
The Petroleum Commission is supposed to exclude politicians from this process. But without a Commission, that responsibility of allocating oil blocks falls flat in the hands of those in the PPP/C which has so far demonstrated their unfitness to properly manage this sector.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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