Independence: at what price?

May 26, 2022 News

Today, we celebrate Guyana’s 56th Independence anniversary!

Independence restored our birthright – the right to develop our country’s resources for the benefit of all of our people. However, today that birthright is being snatched from us.

Some of you have expressed your gratitude for the role of this newspaper in trying to protect what rightly belongs to all of our people. There is hardly a day, which goes by with us not reporting on the country’s oil and gas sector.

The threats to which we have alluded are evident. The fears we have are coming to pass. But there is still time to salvage the situation. Next week, Guyana has another opportunity to force a better deal without renegotiating the contract.

The Liza 1 permit will expire on Tuesday, and has to be renewed before the oil companies can continue developing this oil field. Before this permit is renewed, Guyana must insist on a better deal. What has been stolen from our people’s inheritance must be restored through a fairer arrangement.

The production of oil must result in a boom not further indebtedness. Yet, with every new discovery, Guyana is sinking deeper into a bottomless pit of debts. One int’l expert has calculated that each man, woman and child in this country owes ExxonMobil and its partners G$9M presently.

Is this what Independence means – that we should forfeit our birthright and become servants in our own house?
Let’s wait and see if President Ali, Opposition Leader Norton will do the right thing to secure its citizens’ pocket or they will renew the permit to further enrich Exxon and its shareholders.

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