H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – Draft oil document

Jun 27, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – Right off the bat, I say that the draft oil document has some pleasing provisions.  The PPP Government is due some applause for some of the clauses and conditions embedded in the draft, which is sure to pass in parliament, given how its membership is arrayed.  When I say PPP Government, I mean VP Jagdeo.  But there are a couple of things that trouble, and as with the good, the bad is also placed on the head of the PPP Government, which is brother Jagdeo.  For conscientious Guyanese comfortable with truth and reality, it is not the President who is the main man, nor the Hon. Natural Resources Minister, who has all the substance of an apparition.

The draft provisions for royalty and taxes (10% each), expenses cap (65%), and 50:50 sharing gains my nod of approval.  So, too, those fees for training and rental (US$1M each).  I laud those proposed minimum signing bonuses of US$10M and US$20M at various depths.  Note that my emphasis is on minimum.  Cumulatively, these terms are better than the 2016 oil contract.  A good start, well done; and it takes nothing out of me to say so publicly.  I urge other Guyanese to have their say in the open for not only oil, but with an eye on governance, leadership, the frailty and relevance of the Opposition, corruption, and cover-ups.  Both the good and bad should be commented on honestly and consistently.  I give it the ole college try.  Now for the snowballs going downhill, as incorporated in this draft oil document.

I strongly disagree with the Minister of Natural Resources, or any such minister in any government, been given the power to waive the 10% royalty.  In the PPP set-up that means brother Barry.  Forget about de facto, or the fact of; under any such scheme, it would be the omnipotent Petro President, Bharrat Jagdeo, making the moves, calling the shots, and delivering the goods.  Not one of those would be for the benefit of Guyanese.  Examine his sweet history.  Study the incumbent Minister of Natural Resources, who has been converted to a walking disaster.  After all that we have experienced, should have learned, with this patrimony, why put that power in any man’s hand?  I am sorry, but I see no woman of strength who makes the cut.  Cabinet review distills to the same place: answerable to BJ.

In view of what occurred with the Kaieteur and Canje blocks, I believe that there will be some friendly faces lining up (or lined up by leaders) to bid on those 14 oil parcels.  Because mystery men, straw men, and a bundle of conning was dumped on Guyanese men and women, that waiver of the 10% royalty by the subject minister takes on an expansive definition; could mean anything, lead anywhere.  Including friends of friends.  Now there is this new scheme by PPP intellectual scamps determined to swindle Guyanese: no public disclosure for oil block giveaways.  This can never be beneficial for Guyanese.  Who, but political rogues scrounge around like rodents for openings to rob Guyanese, rather than what empowers them?  Shades of the Oil Fund again.

These draft provisions leave too much room to maneuver, too many arrangements that could fix friends, and too open-ended for confidence. Indeed, the draft when enshrined as standing law stands as the underpinning that drives rules and regs.  But I encourage all to figure out who is going to be the intellectual author of those, and who is going to ensure what is left in, left out, final.  I remind of the Oil money law that would punish whistleblowers about revealing malfeasances with the petrodollars, but not a syllable, not a phrase, not a sentence about collaring those who tamper with the property of the Guyanese people.  How about that for a precedent!  As I have said, when nothing has been given to hold onto, then this is where matters always terminate or climax.

Next, I say nothing about ring-fencing or insurance, or asset retirement obligation, which is Exxon speak for cleanup after making a mess.  Further, I cut through the jargon about carbon footprint, storage, and the rest.  Those are fillers to show that somebody was awake to answer the phones, if only to demonstrate that they are still breathing.  As matters stand, two weeks have been given to Guyanese to review and comment on the draft document.  Two weeks is too short, and by at least a half.  The next step is to the house of lawmaking for what is already a done deal. Welcome to the mind of Bharrat Jagdeo with all his troops lined up.  Open and shut.  Shutdown the opposition.  Shut up shop, start up the music and bring up the drinks. This is what passes for democracy, governance, and oil oversight in Guyana.  There are some bright spots, a few flashing rhetorical flourishes.

Though it says so in that revulsion of a 2016 creation, what kind of country is this, what national sovereignty is this, when the Stabroek Block and Exxon are immunized from acts of parliament?  I would like to have that kind of immunity, and I am a citizen.

(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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• document, draft, GHK Lall, Government, H@rd Truths

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