A plea  for positive action in the oil and gas sector

Apr 26, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to His Excellency the President making a fervent plea once again for positive action in the oil and gas sector and the management of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.. Action Mr. President so that you can pass on to succeeding generations,   a country where all of our people can live in peace where there is plenty for all and where there is respect for the Republic at home and abroad.

Others have dealt minutely with the question of oil and gas. The absurdity of your Government’s handling of our natural resources is palpable.. For example, this twelve and a half percent (12-½%) of  profit sharing is the lowest in the industry worldwide.

Let us not be distracted by laying blame at the feet of agreements made in 1999 and 2016.  What is urgently necessary is for you Mr. President to recognize that during an election campaign you are like the rest of us, a politician, but once you accede to the Presidency and Commander-in-Chief, it is expected that the garments of a political animal are thrown away and replaced by the robes and crown of a Statesman concerned about the welfare of every Guyanese.

Second, you Dear Excellency and your government officials have persuaded us that this question of the sanctity of a Contract must be in my words sacrosanct held sacred not to be violated. I assume Excellency by either of the contracting parties, the gas to shore projects have been heralded by you and the vice-President as a sort of Saviour telling us that the cost of electricity to we your citizens would be cut in half. This is glory good news.

This gas to shore of US$1.3B is by far the largest economic, financial and engineering project ever. The contract documents we have been privy to suggests there has been no feasibility study related to this massive undertaking.  This in essence violates the sanctity of contracts. Excellency, as a simple, ordinary layman, but one who this year would have been in the political hustings for seventy years and all I therefore ask on behalf of some I have spoken to is a lucid and plausible explanation for what appears to be a leap into the dark. Mr. President, I am aware that in some matters the Commander-in-Chief reserves the right to keep certain matters as we say, in the top secret envelope. That is why I will not ask for the truth, and the whole truth of this billion US dollars project, but in response something that is plausible that our citizens can swallow without choking.

At the risk of being tedious and repeating myself, the only way to extract much much more from the oil giants and those who are harvesting our non-renewable natural resources is for us to speak with one voice as a nation and demand more than what we are now getting. Let us not use what seems to be the dirty word of re-negotiation, but any people’s government must be able to bring those who are exploiting our gold, minerals, oil, gas and other resources to the table to talk.

Those discussions with developers, the government and those who represent the Opposition may be stressful but an absolute necessity if we are to make a reality of One People, One Nation, One Destiny and if we are to translate this recent Motto of One Guyana  into a reality. People from Corentyne, Babu Jaan, from Ann’s Grove to Buxton, Georgetown to Parika, Essequibo Coast to North West, the Highlands, the Hinterlands and the Savannahs, I am confident, authorize you our Leaders on every side of the political divide to demand, request or ask, the language is yours, much, much more than this paltry sum we are now getting. In a few days time we will celebrate two significant events, May 1, May Day, the triumph and trials of the working class against the plantocracy and May 5, Indian (Official) Arrival Day of our Indian brothers arriving in two ships. They worked hard on the plantations, particularly in the sugar industry and by dint of sacrifice, hard work and deferred gratification, the majority of them have now become a credit to our nation state.

Of course, the tragedy of the other large group, the enslaved Africans, is that the imperial masters were so cruel that credible records cannot be found for the name of the ships that transported them from West Africa and enslaved them on arrival in Guyana. May I remind you Excellency of what the late Dr. Yesu Persaud once said that we came in different ships but today in Guyana, we’re all in the same boat. So let us paddle in unison to the beat of the  sambula (Amerindian drums),the congo drums, the tassa drums, the tanggu and tung (Traditional Chinese drums), the Adufe (Portuguese drums)  and the traditional English drums.

The attitude of what we earlier describe as Massa has not changed much over the many generations. Their techniques of course are different but the underpinnings of exploitation, divide and rule and providing distractions have not changed. Guyanese, particularly the Amerindian brothers, African, Indian and others must be careful, must be courageous to put aside selfishness and shared stupidity to avoid lessons of the murky past repeating themselves.

Over the past two weeks, I painfully listened to the people of Sri Lanka, formerly British colony Ceylon, leaving their country of birth for a better life.  In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the tension between Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians still exists. In East, West, North and South Africa, the plunder started by the colonizers continues unabated and in spite of the home of precious metals, including gold and oil, many Africans still experience abject poverty and circumstances where they are persuaded by centuries of mis-education that the Creator made them less than equal to those with no melanin. Today in Sudan there is strife and struggle. I learnt of a British Intelligence Officer, celebrated as  Lawrence of Arabia, and speaking to a friend who has been to parts of West Africa, I asked where are the resources, money, guns, food ect. coming from to keep the warring factions in Sudan fighting for so long. His answer was simple.

Weapons supplied keep the war machine by the rich west countries  in the rich west going, while instead of producing tractors and fertilizer plant foods, they are producing weapons to destroy their kit and kin in Sudan and other places. Years ago, R.R. Madden began his poem with these words

“Behold the peace that owned by him who feels

He does no wrong, or outrage when he deals

In human flesh or yet supplies the gold

To stir the strife whose victims you behold.”

These sentiments expressed years ago are relevant in our circumstances.

Dear Mr. President, you have a duty to be a Statesman and graciously invite the Opposition that whether you like it or not, represent a substantial portion of our population. Mr. President, you must rise above the bleating of those who still subscribe to the belief that” awe pon top.” Our Parliament must be used, not as a sham,  a show piece or abuse but as a listening post for a truly concerned and caring government to listen, learn and where necessary take action. As I dictate this letter, the Government intends to table the first reading of the National Intelligence and Security Agency Bill. Mr. President, how is this different from the efforts of Adolph Hitler, when he used the Reichstag  (German Parliament) or Bonito Mussolini in Italy during the 1930s in the second World War.

This Bill is an abomination, an absurdity and an affront to all. We understand democracy and decency to be all about good governance,  or is this another distraction crafted by your well staffed information outfit to consume our energies away  from the vital issues of a rising cost of living in the fastest growing economy. This Bill is a demonstration of a lack of confidence in the leadership and members of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force and ought to be withdrawn post haste.

I write this letter because I am an enthusiast of Civil Rights Leader, Martin Luther King, Jr who reminded us “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Mr. President, the proverbial ball is in your court. Withdraw this Bill, call in the Opposition, agree on an Agenda to discuss our Natural Resources in the distribution of our vast wealth so that tomorrow every Guyanese boy and girl would be afforded equal opportunity for education, health care and cultural activity. Thank God, there is no shortage of money to fulfill the dreams of our noble ancestors, whose blood, sweat and tears nourished this place we know as a Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Your humble servant,

Hamilton Green

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• generations, governments, Hamilton Green, Oil and Gas, positive

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