Citizens can no longer trust PPP, PNC to make decisions for a future with oil-Glenn Lall

Nov 07, 2024 News

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(Citizens can no longer trust PPP, PNC)

Kaieteur News- Businessman Glenn Lall is calling on Guyanese to stand up for themselves to have a better future with the country‘s oil resources, arguing that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) nor the People National Congress (PNC) can be trusted to make those decisions for them.

During his Monday night radio programme on the Kaieteur Radio, Lall told his listeners that it has been eight years since the lopsided oil deal with ExxonMobil was signed and yet either party is still to make a move in the direction to renegotiate the “teaspoon arrangement”. He said Guyanese should have the right to decide what they want, instead of accepting what the leaders are “shoving down their throats from the little revenue they get from the oil, and this choice should be made before the 2025 elections.” “We must be given the right to vote on what we want from this oil blessing in a referendum. We can no longer, as a nation, trust the PPP and the PNC to continue making decisions for our future with this oil. We have seen enough of their games with ExxonMobil that they cannot be trusted with even a barrel of that oil, much less those 30B barrels. We are the true owners and we must be the decision makers of what we want for ourselves today, and for our future generations,” Lall stressed.

“It has been eight long years since that oil was discovered, and that slave contract was signed, and in all that time, both the PNC and the PPP have shown no willingness to change this teaspoon arrangement.  We cannot—and must not—sit back and keep swallowing what they want to hand us, while they refuse to give us what is truly ours. Enough is enough. This must come to an end, and we, the people, can make that change happen. We have given both the PNC and the PPP enough time to fix and correct this wholesale robbery, and we have gotten nowhere.  So, NOW is the time for us to take control of our resources,” the businessman said.

Furthermore, he said that citizens should not allow another election to be held, until this critical issue is addressed and put to rest. “In short, we must not participate in any elections if there is not a referendum to change what the Guyanese people demand and deserve.”

He added that it is time citizens demand a referendum, “a vote by the people—on this oil contract, and let’s be smart about it. This referendum should not be scheduled at the same time as the elections, or it will get lost in the politicking. We know how it works: once they get into office, they’ll raise a glass with Exxon and forget the promises they made. Let’s make sure we secure our future through our own votes, and that change must happen before any new elections.”

On November 5ht this publication reported that the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) said that it supports the call for a referendum on the 2016 oil contract with ExxonMobil ahead of the 2025 General and Regional Elections. This was revealed by Dr. David Hinds, presidential candidate of the party during the party’s virtual press conference.

“WPA notes recent calls for a referendum on the 2016 oil contract, while we do not oppose such move we strongly feel that such a referendum must also cover the distribution of the oil resources to the people and a form of governance to be adopted as we transition into a petro state,” Dr. Hinds said. The party is of the view that the issues are interrelated and therefore the government’s contract with ExxonMobil and its partners should not be examined separately from the government’s “political social contract” with the citizens of Guyana.

“Support for such a referendum is therefore conditional. First, WPA recommends that the 2016 oil contract, the Buxton Proposal and shared governance be put on the ballot. Second, there must be consensus on the questions being put to the electorate, in order to avoid the exercise becoming a partisan political football and an ethno-racial census,” he told reporters.

On Friday last, the Alliance for Change (AFC) said it supports calls for a referendum on Exxon’s 2016 oil deal with Guyana.  Chairman of the party, David Patterson in response to a question posed by Kaieteur News made it clear that the AFC believes that a referendum should be held prior to the 2025 elections. However, Patterson made it clear that oil and gas is not the lone issue that requires a referendum. He pointed to the need to make amendments to certain clauses in the Constitution and those proposed amendments should be put to a vote via a referendum. “We (the AFC) would support a referendum to do all of those things including matters of oil and gas, (being) on a referendum (even) prior to the elections,” the AFC Chairman said. He reminded that the AFC is part of the Constitution Reform Committee and matters inclusive of the country’s newest natural resource must be discussed.

“Maybe it will be a good idea to include not only the recommendations from that constitutional committee (and) it will be a good idea to include other issues that we do think is necessary. Not only the oil and gas… the issue of death penalty, of course which I feel strongly about in the sense that it’s something that should not be on our books,” Patterson said. The AFC member said too that if the government is as confident as it claims then it should be inclined to “have one referendum to change all these things before the elections.”

Last week, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that a referendum being held at the same time of the 2025 General and Regional Elections would complicate the voting process. A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision. Jagdeo, who is also General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) sought to rule out any move towards deciding the issue via a referendum at next year’s general elections. He was asked the question by Journalist Denis Chabrol during his weekly news conference to which he said, political parties contesting the polls should state their positions on the matter and let the electorate decide if they want such a party to govern Guyana.

(Citizens can no longer trust PPP, PNC to make decisions for a future with oil-Glenn Lall)

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• decisions, Jagdeo, Lall, oil deal, PNC, PPP, referendum

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