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Two weeks, take it or leave it

Apr 12, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Two weeks are all that will be given, and that is the end of that, according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s Chief Oil Minister, and Oil Czar.  It is all of 14 days to review the new draft Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) and citizens can take it, or leave it; learn to like it and deal with it.  Because this is Guyana, and if Jagdeo say so, it is so.

The Coalition APNU+AFC Government in place in 2016 had a draft of some kind before it, and look at the horror story that Guyana ended up with.  It was all because it did not take the time to study closely and consult widely.  Now the Vice President concluded that Guyanese have had five years exposure to the issue presently before them.  His exact words are: “I find it strange that this matter has been in the public domain for the last five years about what’s wrong with the current PSA and so people have been saying that two weeks is not enough.”

Jagdeo is clever enough, possesses enough smarts, to know that identifying and being familiar with all that is wrong with the 2016 PSA does not automatically give the fullest comprehension of what could be missing in the present draft PSA.  It helps that Guyanese know the deficits in the existing PSA, but that is still not enough to assert that in addressing and resolving those, that is all that is required, and the matter ends there.  Instead, given the mistakes made and the lessons learned, Guyanese need as much time as they can get to go through the draft PSA (primarily Dr. Jagdeo’s bright handiwork) with a fine-toothed comb, a hairnet, and a microscope to determine for themselves what new snares are embedded in it.  This is to avoid them, and not create new loopholes and new burdens for the citizens of this country.

Because the new draft PSA is most likely Jagdeo’s brainchild, with a helping hand from people who operate on the same level as him, Guyanese need to be alert for what could be hidden, where possible contract dangers lurk.  Having been bitten so deeply and so often by the products of the Vice President’s fevered (and fertile) mind, Guyanese reserve the right to be cautious, if not skeptical, with anything that comes out of his mouth, and from his head.

Being sure is the key, and this means going slow.   It is why, therefore, that we have a problem with the 14 day review limit that is now set in stone, as the Oil Czar himself proclaimed.  It is too short, and there is the risk that in the hurry to cover all the components, a few elements of substance could be missed, or not given the weight that is due, because of how innocuous they may have been made to be.  The Vice President’s own Attorney General could enlighten him on the disagreements and disputes that could arise from a misplaced comma, or a phrase that could be open to any kind of interpretation.  This is what makes it so imperative that Guyanese have the extension of time needed, so that they do not review the new draft document, while forced to keep one eye on the clock.

Dr. Jagdeo should now know, given his recent embrace of contract sanctity, how inviolable its terms and conditions can be.  In view of this, Guyanese do not want, should not be saddled, with a new PSA that yokes them to a legal document, which binds them hands and feet to whatever tricky clauses are smoothly incorporated.  Too many bitter memories, frustrated energies, would be revived over what ExxonMobil did to this in-a-rush and unwise country back in 2016.

Jagdeo is not a tenderfoot newly emerging out of the wilderness.  He is a seasoned and wily leader when matters like these are on the radar.  An extension of time is not going to hurt anyone, or delay any straining-at-the-bit oil block investor.  Moreover, a couple of weeks more is sure not to tamper or thwart any great government plans.  So, why this unholy haste on the part of Jagdeo? That alone is enough to cause pausing.

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