VP Jagdeo exposing Cabinet colleagues to public ridicule and embarrassment

Jan 16, 2025 News

---

…as he continues to duck key documents on gas-to-energy project—Glenn Lall  

Kaieteur News-  Social commentator and businessman, Glenn Lall, has called out Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo for refusing to release key documents of the gas-to-energy project, insisting that the magnitude of the undertaking deserves national scrutiny, which the PPP/C administration has been resisting.

Last week, the government signed a US$527 million loan agreement with the United States Export-Import (US EXIM) Bank for the project, which will support the construction of a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and a 300-megawatt power plant. Gas will be transported from the offshore Stabroek Block Liza oilfield via a 12-inch pipeline to the project site, where 50 million cubic feet of gas will be converted into power daily. According to Jagdeo, the project is expected to cut electricity costs nationwide by 50%.

However, since the conceptualisation of the project, the administration has been reluctant to release the agreements despite several requests from citizens and even the opposition.  Recently, Jagdeo explained that there is a fixed 4% annual interest rate on the US$527M loan which would be repaid over a period of 15 years.  He said the country will be required to make two annual payments on November 1 and May 1, commencing on May 1, 2031.

“The interest rate is 4% so if you calculate it over the period, but remember there are moratoriums and all of that, so it’s a 4% interest and you can calculate what the repayment would be over a time period. It’s fixed at 4%…principal repayment is 30 semi-annual instalments…so it’s 15 years thereafter,” the VP explained.

Plunging Guyana into debt

However, speaking in one of his recent social commentaries, Lall observed that the government was plunging the country into fresh debt and was not being transparent with citizens.  Speaking directly about Jagdeo, who manages the oil and gas sector, Lall said the former president has claimed the project will cut electricity bills by half but to this day, he has not provided any proof to back this up.

“Since he announced this project, the call has been clear: make the documents public and show the nation the evidence. He has been asked repeatedly—by the opposition, the media, and even myself—but instead of releasing that document, he keeps on playing games and dodging the nation,” said Lall, a staunch advocate for a better oil deal with ExxonMobil.

Lall recalled that in 2022, after relentless calls for transparency about the project, Jagdeo and his team held a press briefing with editors and media house owners.  “What happen next would shock all of you. At that meeting, we were bluntly told not to record what they were about to tell us.  Yes, you heard me right—no recording at a press briefing meant to inform the nation about this US$2 billion project. Imagine that – a briefing of the country’s most expensive project since independence, the media was barred from documenting what was to be said. What kind of transparency is this?” Lall asked.

The businessman detailed that following incessant calls by the media and other stakeholders for answers and the release of the agreements signed for the project, Jagdeo first sent reporters to Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, who told the nation that the documents could not yet be released.

“Imagine this project racing full steam ahead, but the documents to justify it, is still not ready for us to see. The Opposition formally requested that this critical document be lodged in Parliament where it rightfully belongs, for scrutiny and accountability. Yet, to this very day, just like the media and the rest of the Guyanese public, the entire Parliament is still waiting to see that document.”

Lall recounted that Jagdeo was again confronted about the Opposition’s demand to make the project document available in Parliament at which point he told reporters to go to Government’s Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira since she is the person responsible for laying such documents in Parliament. However, when Teixeira was confronted on the issue, she told the reporters she knew nothing about it and directed the media to the Prime Minister, saying he is the man responsible for that sector.

Recently, at his end-of-year press conference, when the Prime Minister was questioned, his response was that it was better for Jagdeo to respond, since he has been the one addressing all matters related to the Wales project.

“Round and round it goes—a game of hot potatoes with a US$2 billion project at stake. Jagdeo circus of passing the buck should make every Guyanese stop and think about the level of respect this man has for us and the future of this country,” Lall said.  Jagdeo was again asked about the release of key documents last week at his news conference at which point he directed this media house to ask the US Exim Bank.

“It is clear he doesn’t want anybody to ask him anything about the Wales project. Ask yourself people: Is that a leader? Is that someone we can trust with our future? Is this a man committed to informing the people, or is he bent on deceiving us at every level? You be the judge. You know what is more troubling here people, is how he is dragging members of his own cabinet and senior government officials to make fools out of themselves, just so that they can keep their jobs and stay in office. These people, supposed to be leaders in their own right, are reduced to puppets, forced to endure public embarrassment while toeing the line of Jagdeo’s evil and twisted agenda,” Lall commented.

Only last week this newspaper reported that more than a dozen Guyanese and two organisations have requested the United States Export Import (US EXIM) Bank to share documents relating to the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project it has provided a US$527M loan to support.

In a statement to the media, the citizens Elizabeth Deane-Hughes, Danuta Radzik, Alfred Bhulai, Vincent Adams, Andre Brandli, Vanda Radzik, Janette Bulkan, George Jaikaran, Karen de Souza, Fredrick Collins, Darshanand Khusial, Susan Collymore, Halima Khan, Joy Marcus and Wintress White explained that the request was made on January 10, 2025.

The Oil & Gas Governance Network (OGGN) as well as the Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) also attached their signatures to the letter.  It was explained that the request is now awaiting the Bank’s reply to issue a processing number for a response from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Unit within the EXIM Bank’s system.

According to the statement, “Earlier in their interactions with EXIM Bank, members of Civil Society in Guyana were given the reference number 202500055F on their third attempt to obtain loan application documents.”

Additionally, the citizens pointed out that they are also awaiting information from US-EXIM Bank on their request for other documents. They had requested any feasibility study for the Wales location; any feasibility study for the use of associated gas, per Article 12 of the Petroleum Sharing Agreement 2016; any Gas Utilization Plan and any other document relating to the project.

(Jagdeo exposing Cabinet colleagues to public ridicule and embarrassment)

---

• Glenn Lall, Oil and Gas Sector, United States Export-Import (US-Exim) Bank, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

---