Governments, political parties and leaders don’t own oil resources

Jul 01, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – ‘Oil resources don’t belong to any Govt. or political party’…it belongs to the people and future generations should benefit -Surinamese President says at oil conference” (KN June 30). Truer, more accurate, words have not been said by a head of state in a long time, which is why we are as one with what Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the Surinamese leader presented to his assembled guests.

We don’t think that we can be clearer than this: no government, no political party, and no leader of any kind, owns the natural resource wealth of this country. It doesn’t matter what it is, oil or gold or bauxite or timber, as we have in such bulk, they don’t own anything, nothing belongs to them. The wealth of this country, all of its resources, are the inheritance of all its peoples, and all of it. So, let that be put to bed in the cleanest, simplest of terms.

Governments and political parties and leaders do own something, though. They own the responsibility to govern and lead honestly and beneficially for the citizens who put them there to run things for them. Governments and political parties owe a duty, have a total obligation, to the people to do right by them. It is through a number of things, the sum of what they do, that they fulfill what is their mandate, given to them by the people. That is, manage the wealth properly, watch over it like a hawk, and get the best for the people. The best is not for them and their cronies, which is what has happened here for too long and too often.
The best is not those outsiders who come here to grab as much as they can get and as cheaply as they can get it. The best is for those around today, and it must be handled so prudently that much of the benefits of oil and other wealth are retained for future generations to participate in and enjoy their fair and rightful share of their national patrimony. For some reason, most, if not all, of this have failed to penetrate the twisted minds of governments of Guyana and the men and women who form the leadership teams that make decisions for us.

We have spoken of corruptions and the inestimable costs of those that shorten what should come to the people. Corruptions still rage uncontrollably and, with the arrival of oil, the situation in Guyana has only gotten worse, if that can be imagined. It had better be because that is what is causing us so many problems, why so many leaders are so strung out from having their feet held to the fire, and being forced to come up with honest answers, which is the last thing that they want to do.
For a place rewarded with so much by way of natural resources, the latest of which are these discoveries of massive quantities of oil, we ought to be in a far better place. Look at leaders, and there is the source of this nation’s problem that just will not go away. Crookedness is their first and middle name, deception and failure their title that accuses them. Their falsehoods fuel more failures in an endless cycle, and it is all because they are so greedy, so inclined to do what is wrong and bad for the people, while misusing and abusing the power given to them by the people.
After the longest wait, and the lasting speculations, oil is now here in Guyana. Already, the worst has surfaced in them, from the previous APNU+AFC Coalition to the present PPP/C Government. It is tiring and disgusting and enraging, as to what they have done with this oil, how poorly they have taken care of its fruits. All this must be made known to them, and in the most unsparing manner. We must call our leaders to account, for this is not their wealth to have and to hold onto for themselves. This oil is ours and we, the people, must never let them forget that, and we must make them pay for their many mistakes with it. We must confront them and compel them to come clean.

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