Questions for Jagdeo

Apr 15, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The Second Vice President, at his most recent Press Conference laid claim to his government being more transparent and have answered more questions about the oil and gas sector at a few press conferences than the APNU+AFC did during its five years in office.

But despite this contention, which is highly disputable, there are a number of questions to which the public are still awaiting answers from the country’s Second Vice President. It is hoped that now that the government claims that it is providing more answers than the APNU+AFC did, that it will have its Second Vice President answer the following questions.

1. Can the Second Vice President give definitively the interest rate Guyana is paying to the oil companies? If an answer to this question was previously provided, in the public interest can this answer be provided again so that the public would have clearer idea about the liabilities of the country to the oil companies?
2. Can the Second Vice President state whether he intends to place a cap on interest rates, under the new model Production Sharing Agreement which is now up for public consultations? It would be helpful to the consultative process if this issue can be clarified.
3. Can the Second Vice President indicate whether the outcome of the auction of oil blocks will have to await the passage of the new Petroleum Act and the possible establishment of a Petroleum Commission?
4. When he was the President of Guyana, the now Second Vice President promised to fix the Skeldon Sugar Factory? Can the Second Vice President indicate what steps he has taken since being sworn in on 2nd August 2020, to fix the problems with this factory which at the time was the largest public investment project in the country?
5. If the problem is not going to be fixed or cannot now be fixed, perhaps the Second Vice President may wish to edify the nation as to who he considers responsible for the fiasco involving the Skeldon Sugar Factory.
6. The government has indicated that it signed a multi-million-dollar contract for the production of a new e-identification card. The identification of the contractor was reportedly facilitated by the government of the United Arab Emirates. Can the Second Vice President state the likely benefits that will be derived from this new identification card? Can he also state whether any public consultations will be held to allay the privacy and cybercrime fears which some members of the public may have of this project?
7. The contract for the project was single-sourced. There was no competitive bidding. There must have been some basis on which the contract sum was determined. Can the Second Vice President indicate then how his government arrived at the contract sum given the absence of competitive bidding?
8. Can the Second Vice President indicate just when the public can expect the appointment of Ambassadors to Brazil and Venezuela, and the High Commissioners to India and South Africa?
9. Can the Second Vice President state if the government has published or is developing a National Depletion Policy to guide the extraction of oil and gas? If not, why is such a policy not in place?
10. Can the Second Vice President state when the public can expect the release of the audit reports into the operations of the oil companies?
11. Many years ago, the Second Vice President will recall that public officers were subject to lie detector tests. Is the Second Vice President willing to have himself and other government Ministers subject to similar tests should the need arise?
12. What is the response, of the Vice President, to the allegation reportedly made by that “Guyana was allowed by Winrock-ART-TREES to invent a fictitious baseline of deforestation … allowed to get credit for emissions reductions that never occurred. Can the Second Vice President care to comment on this allegation? And can he while doing so indicate how the baseline being used was derived?
13. The Second Vice President recently claimed that the voluntary carbon markets are now attracting a higher price for carbon. In the carbon credits sale between Guyana and Hess, can the Vice President state at what price are those credits locked in?
14. Does the Second Vice President agree with the assertion that avoided deforestation cannot be incorporated into the Paris Agreement?

In the interest of transparency, it is hoped that the Second Vice President or his office can provide answers to the aforementioned questions.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• APNU+AFC, Jagdeo, Peeping Tom, Press Conference, Vice President

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