Opposition on more oil royalties

Jun 30, 2025 Editorial, News

Kaieteur News – Opposition Leader Norton spoke smartly on oil royalties featuring on the September ballot. “The Guyanese citizens have the right to vote for anything they want. I believe many issues are on the ballot. Adriana Younge is on the ballot, the murder of those boys in Berbice is on the ballot, the level of incompetence and corruption on the ballot, and if people want to put 25 per cent royalty, it should be done.” It pleases that Norton was unusually clear on the upsetting issue of the current low 2 percent oil royalties that Guyana receives. By any standards, oil royalties of 2 percent are more than obscene, they insult all the people of this nation. The 2 percent royalty from ExxonMobil must be kicked from where it is, and be replaced by a higher number, one much higher.

What is interesting, is the manner in which the PNCR leader phrased his answer. “If people want to put 25 percent royalty, it should be done.” Put it on the ballot was what he meant, and it should be allowed to happen. He was clear about that, which raises a longstanding question. What does he and his PNCR want for oil royalties? Are both comfortable with the 2 percent that Guyana collects at present? If this is not so, then what is the royalty level, the minimum, that Norton and the PNCR would be willing to consider fair, or at least a starting point? He has to say this in the most unambiguous manner. Although it was helpful to hear Mr. Norton giving Guyanese assurance that when his party is back in government, the drive will be for maximum benefits to flow to citizens, he didn’t go far enough. He needs to be specific, viz., this is the royalty percent that will be satisfactory to a possible future PNCR government.

Further, he has to say so now, when Guyanese are weighing the pros and cons of the different leaders and groups fighting for their vote. Very clear and very straightforward, he must be, because the challenge for every eligible voter is how persuasive he is, how much trust can be given to him. On management of this oil, which has been in tatters from the time it was first discovered. There is that rushed, ill-thought out, and poorly finalized 2016 ExxonMobil Production Sharing Agreement by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, for a start. This has been followed by the appalling leadership, incompetence, and secrecies surrounding its management from the PPPC Government. The prime example of this has been the conduct of Guyana’s chief oil minister, Bharrat Jagdeo, who cuts a most pathetic figure as an oil steward. Whether he opens his mouth, or keeps it tightly shut (‘I will not answer that question’), he reveals the poverty of his leadership in this richest sector on which so much of Guyana’s destiny revolves. A figure of ridicule he has made himself into, going on for five years now, and this is never more glaring than when the nation’s oil wealth is involved.

Opposition Leader Norton hasn’t done much better for himself. He, too, has not been most forthcoming when questions are put to him on oil, and about where he stands. He answers in a less vitriolic way than Jagdeo, no question about that, and he looks better for it. But trying to dig an answer of substance out of Mr. Norton on oil hasn’t yielded much on which Guyanese can hang their hats. Citizens aren’t satisfied by his vague promises of what the PNCR would do, should it get back in government. Guyanese need more, and they want more, from their oil, and none of their leaders should be hedging their positions on it.

One of the things that caught our attention is centered on Norton’s answer to the royalty issue. He mentioned that Adrianna Younge and the Cotton Tree murders (Henrys) should be on the ballot. Many Guyanese believe that both are crimes. We take the position that the current 2 percent royalty is also an unsolved crime. There is only one way to solve it: more royalties, as much as 25 percent. This doesn’t belong with politicians, but in voters’ hands.

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Aubrey Norton, Editorial, Guyana Elections 2025, Oil royalties

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