No budget money to monitor, audit oil sector

Jan 20, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It should be obvious by now to Guyanese that there is a method to what may appear to be the madness of the PPPC Government. It is not madness at all, but slickness and trickiness taken to new levels.

In a new oil producing nation ramping up production, spending billions upon US billions in exploration and operational expenses, it is expected that significant funds would be allocated in the national budget to facilitate continuing monitoring and audits of the ever-expanding oil sector. Though that would apply elsewhere, Guyana has broken the mold, by exempting itself from any such consideration, standard.

We have a budget that smashes prior records at $781.9B. The PPPC Government has made sure that it has allocated many billions to multiple areas, including education, health and, of course, infrastructure. In the latter’s case, $136.1B in the budget is for roads and bridges alone. Both represent a step in the right direction, but they also are the mechanism for massive Governmental, contractual, and financial frauds. Given that there are so many billions for roads, 2023 will be a feast for the fellows within the PPPC Government’s inner circle.

The same can be said with accuracy and confidence on the $94.4B for education, $84.9B for health, and $54.4B for Housing. These can all have a positive impact on the lives of Guyanese, but only on the condition that the bulk of those billions is actually spent on the sectors and projects identified. But amid all the grand numbers, and the grander words of the Minister of Finance, there is a glaring deficit, more like a criminally negligent development, about budget funds for the most significant area/sector. Where is the money, any money, some money for the ballooning oil and gas sector, particularly to monitor and audit its costly activities? If anybody going through this year’s national budget comes across money to monitor and audit the oil sector, we would welcome their pointing that to us.

It is doubtful that there would be anything to show us, because such an allocation is just not there in this year’s budget. The Finance Minister has long shown himself to be a man with not just a head for numbers, but also a mouth for comforting words. There is one drawback: the man’s words usually do not mean anything, they are just fillers, lacking in credibility and anything that relates to what is considered trustworthy.

The record is that the budget presenter for almost six hours (he should get a medal or a stipend of a billion for that alone) had not a word to offer about building human resource capacity to get in front of what is going on in our offshore oilfields, and with expenses among the top priorities. One would have thought that, with ExxonMobil’s endless capacity for rapacity and expense skullduggery, the PPPC Government and its senior leadership would be focused on doing what is necessary, if not mandatory, to put the brakes on ExxonMobil by having Guyanese equipped to dog the company footsteps, and to look over the shoulders of its people. Healthy skepticism about what ExxonMobil operators are doing in the oilfields, and what they are billing us for, can only protect and serve Guyana’s interests.

But the PPPC Government is clearly more supportive of ExxonMobil’s prosperity, than it is of doing what gets to the bottom of whatever expense and operational shenanigans that ExxonMobil may be employing to trick and rob Guyanese. We have a very weak and hazy grasp of ExxonMobil’s machinations and manipulations, but the position of the Government is that it doesn’t matter, we do not need to monitor the company’s activities. When we do not know, then we will be hurt badly. When the Guyana Government plays the fool, then the Guyanese people will pay the heavy prices. No budget money to monitor and audit the oil sector is remarkable in that it lays bare the incestuous relationship between the PPP and ExxonMobil. The PPPC Government looks out for ExxonMobil, and ExxonMobil looks out for the PPPC Government. No budget money to monitor and audit ExxonMobil confirm beyond a doubt that the PPPC Government is ExxonMobil’s lackey and flunkey, and donkey too.

Audit, Editorial, Guyanese, No budget, oil sector

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No budget money to monitor, audit oil sector

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