The wisdom of Minister Bharrat

Dec 02, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat is concerned about chasing away potential investors from considering investing in Guyana. This came about when the issue of renegotiation of Guyana’s horrendous 2016 oil contract with ExxonMobil is put before the PPPC Government. In the first instance, Minister Bharrat must be recognised for holding the same head as his leaders in the face of repeated calls for his government to revisit the ExxonMobil contract and get better terms for Guyana. In the next instance, we ask ourselves if the minister understands what he is saying, the interpretations that the foreigners could put to his words, and the implications of his stance.

Guyana wants and needs foreign investors and their funds to get a lot of things done. Big things that cost big dollars that we don’t have, and which could assist this country’s progress on a path of national development, and position it to reap the benefits of its massive oil wealth, and offer all its citizens a far better life. But, as much as this country wants and needs foreign investment and foreign skills and foreign technology, there is another side to that coin. It is that the foreign investors, who have the money to invest, want to come here more than we want and need them. They don’t even want to consider elsewhere, not when Guyana is the best thing in the universe.

Foreign investors have choices, and they look at what is most promising, which happens to be Guyana head and shoulders above any other place. We make the point that Guyana has no competition from any other country, given the quality of oil, and the high probability of more billions of barrels still undiscovered, just waiting to be found. We proceed to make the case that Guyana is now beyond mere potential, for what Guyana has is now proven. We have the 11 billion barrels of oil as proof, and foreign investors are lining up to get a piece of the Guyana oil pie, some through offshore exploration and production, others through downstream opportunities on land. Minister Bharrat can twist it or turn it, jump through the hoops he crafts to dodge the burning issue of renegotiation of the 2016 ExxonMobil oil contract, but outsiders desperately want to come here, and get rich.

Our prospects are that good, our returns can be that high, that all other places fall out of contention for investment dollars. The minister knows all this, so we ask ourselves what game he is playing, and why he is doing so, when Guyanese expect so much, and they are getting so little, almost nothing. Moreover, Minister Bharrat knows that the ExxonMobil contract is a criminal one, an incomparable horror story, which his own leaders and government have said repeatedly. If the ExxonMobil contract was a criminal one before, and it remains still untouched and still unchanged, then it is still a criminal contract. To talk of sanctity of contract, therefore, becomes a criminal attitude and criminal development, simply from taking that position.

We have another scenario to put before Minister Bharrat and his bosses, President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo. In their efforts to shield ExxonMobil, to leave the oil contract alone at all costs, and by any means, and using any degree of cunning, they are forgetting something, and unwittingly opening the door to the unwanted. Meaning, that the same foreign investors that Minister Bharrat says that he and his government are fearful of chasing away could have their own profit considerations up their sleeve. In a nutshell, they would want the same playing field as what is allowed to ExxonMobil through that still standing criminal contract. They could demand that those same contractual terms and conditions be what they will settle for, other than for a few tiny crumbs here and there.

Instead of running from Guyana, they could dig in their heels, and play hardball. When we are strong, courageous, and determined to get a fair deal for Guyana, then investors will deal with us respectfully, carefully. When Guyana’s leaders show weakness and fearfulness, foreigners will rip us off, just as ExxonMobil did, and the PPPC Government allows it to continue doing so.

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