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New Oil PSA toothless without Petroleum Commission – Glenn Lall says
Kaieteur News – Civil Society Advocate and businessman Glenn Lall is questioning the Government of Guyana’s reason to have in place oil laws and a new agreements but no governing body to enforce them, saying that the new Petroleum Sharing Agreement (PSA) is toothless without the Petroleum Commission.
Businessman and publisher of Kaieteur News Glenn Lall.
On his Monday August 5th edition of his weekly programme on the Kaieteur Radio, Lall played a clip of Jagdeo responding to the question on when the Petroleum Commission will be put in place. The question was posed by a reporter of this publication.
Lall said that, “You heard him, you see how upset and evasive he became, we are asking him about the group of people to manage the oil sector, that he himself said is the government’s ultimate goal to put in place. Today he running from that, telling us about what the PNC didn’t do into a new law he is putting in place.”
Lall also questioned “You can have all the laws in place and if you don’t have the police and a court, then what do you have? Lawlessness and that is what we have in Guyana ever since we found that oil, lawlessness.”
The VP had recently said at previous press conferences that the government is currently looking at building capacity in the relevant agencies to be able to better monitor the oil sector. To this Lall asked “who in Guyana that has the expertise to manage this industry? Let me tell you Guyanese – none, nobody. The GRA doesn’t have anyone, the Energy Department has no one, and the EPA is a toothless poodle.”
Explaining the purpose of the commission, Lall said “a Petroleum Commission is a body, a set of qualified and experienced people in the oil business, who can help us manage that oil the way it should be, that will make all Guyanese super rich.” This administration had given its word in its manifesto that if elected to office, a Petroleum Commission would be in place to facilitate better contract management of the oil sector, so Guyanese can benefit from that oil wealth.
The businessman recalled, “President Ali, as soon as he took office, told this nation, a Petroleum Commission would soon be in place. VP Jagdeo said the same thing, the Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, when asked about it promised to get back to my reporter two years now, and to this day he never get back to the building, much less the reporter on this most important toolkit needed for this Oil bonanza we have. Today, four years later, that same Bharat Jagdeo singing a different tune about that Petroleum Commission”.
Lall reminded his listeners that, “a Petroleum Commission is the first thing you have to put in place when you find oil, noting that all other countries that want to get the best out of their oil have put that team of experts in place right away. Saudi Arabia, Norway, Kuwait, Brazil, name them, the biggest oil producing nations on earth for decades, still have international experts helping them to this day in every area to safeguard their oil assets from the hands of oil thieves, including the politicians.”
However, Lall said Jagdeo “knows if he puts a truly independent team of experts to help manage that oil, it gon cut up all the darkness going on with them out there. A Petroleum Commission would shine the light in every corner, so we can see and know what is going on.” “A Petroleum Commission in place would ensure that the oil blocks that they gave away would have been sold in the open market and would have given us money to build highways all across Guyana already. A Petroleum Commission will tell ExxonMobil that the interest rates must be capped and they must let Guyana put meters at all the pumps or they have to stop pumping oil. A Petroleum Commission will instruct Bharat Jagdeo – we need a document signed by ExxonMobil to fully compensate Guyanese and anybody else who suffers damages from an oil spill,” he added.
Speaking at his weekly press-conference on Wednesday, Jagdeo said the PPP/C-led administration has done enough already to transparently monitor the oil sector. “There is no magic with a Petroleum Commission,” Jagdeo told the media.
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