Failure to improve local capacity to audit oil companies shows Govt. lack of concern for the sector – Norton  

Aug 22, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

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Kaieteur News – More than three years after Guyana started to produce oil, the government is yet to implement programmes which will help develop the capacity of locals to audit the oil and gas sector.

Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton lamented last Thursday at his weekly press briefing that this failure by Government is a clear indication of their lack of concern for what is happening with Guyana’s oil resources.

Speaking at the press conference, Norton declared that: “The government keeps talking about Goal Scholarship Programme but Goal seems to be goalless!”

He continued, “If you are saying that you have this comprehensive programme to train people and you haven’t aligned it with the needs of the country, then you are clearly goalless. The main goal of the Goal Programme should be to make full use of human resources to cater to the needs of the country and provide scholarships to satisfy these markets.”

Norton called the project deficient while noting that it does not prioritize equipping people with the skills needed to fill vacancies that exist in the industry.

He questioned, “How do you explain knowing for years that we have to audit oil and gas and not having the programmes to improve the institutional capability of the people that have to audit the oil and gas sector?”

The Opposition Leader further lamented, “It is one of my major concerns because if you are into profit oil. If you are getting your money from profits…Your most basic and fundamental task is really to have the capacity to audit. So you get what you justly deserve.”

“The government’s failure to improve our capacity is a clear indication that they don’t care three whatever…about the people of Guyana because they are allowing our resources to go…”

During the joint opposition press briefing, A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Executive Member, Ganesh Mahipaul also spoke on the issue.

He noted that, “When the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Godfrey Statia raised the issue of shortage of staff to deal with the cost oil audit during a recent hearing of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the question was asked ‘What it is that the government is doing through the Ministry of Public Service in order to facilitate the training through scholarships and whatever other measures that may be necessary to enhance our people to make them more qualified in the oil and gas sector.’”

“I remember, the Commissioner General saying that there is no correlation and no interaction between and Ministry of Public Service which is sad because we are in the oil and gas now. We have been producing for more than three years now and the question is how involved is the Ministry of Public Service or the Government in the essence of ensuring that we have skills to service the sector?” Mahipaul posited.

Outside of the Goal Scholarship Programme which is under the purview of the Ministry of Public Service, Mahipaul said that Government must move to enhance the programmes offered via the University of Guyana

“…In terms of the University of Guyana, what is the government doing when it comes to scholarships offered so as to utilize the people that we have in our country with first Degrees and Masters and so on, and to elevate themselves and specialize in their respective fields relative to oil and gas? What has the government been doing?”

Mahipaul stressed that the Government should have a plan to address the lacuna and use its efforts towards making Guyanese more skilled to address the needs of the industry.

Meanwhile, at a news conference that followed, Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo sought to debunk the Opposition’s claims.

“He [Norton] is peddling; he made a big issue of this at his press conference… But we are working to bring more people into the labour force through training programmes. We have an aggressive programme through the Ministry of Labour. We have about 17,000 people on scholarships now. Through the Goal Programme, there are lots of these activities going on to educate and bring our own people into the labour force.”

“You heard the GRA said and I think that was a question which was raised at the last press conference, that they don’t have the skills to monitor Exxon’s expenditure and if we don’t have the skills; then we would have to bring in the skills…,” the VP said.

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• Aubrey Norton, Godfrey Statia, Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Opposition Leader, programmes

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