Dear Editor,
Speaking at the Buxton First of August Movement’s Annual Eusi Kwayana Emancipation Symposium on Sunday 11th August, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge is reported to have “urged that the citizenry focus on their role in the oversight of spending of expected revenues” instead of issues such as the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between the government and ExxonMobil and its partners. (S.N 14.08.19). This raised a few questions about methods, means and quality of oversight available to our citizenry.
In light of the fact that our Parliament has met for only 3 of the 226 days in 2019, what method does Mr. Greenidge expect the citizenry to utilize in their oversight role? Guyana has moved away from a system of Parliamentary democracy since the passage of the No-confidence motion on 21st December 2018, where will questions that arise from oversight be asked? Where will the Government be called to account for “spending of expected revenues”? Who will ask the questions? Who will be compelled to answer and by what means?
Editor, I call your attention to the unsatisfactory replies to questions of fiscal responsibility given by the Finance Minister and others, to questions posed during the Budget debates of 2018 and 2019, specifically; the imbroglio in 2017 when Bishop Juan Edghill attempted to ask a question regarding an allocation for the Ministry of the Presidency. The Speaker explained that the two hours set aside for the examination of that Ministry had come to an end. Edghill was insistent that the Committee had a right to examine the allocation since it was in relation to four additional programmes for the Ministry of the Presidency which was not there the previous year. This led to the entry of law officers into the parliamentary chamber and the suspension of Edghill from the next four days of Budget debates. Two hours cannot be enough time to examine expenditure of Billions of taxpayers’ monies; after all we toil countless hours to provide those monies to the state in the expectation of betterment. Also worrying was the submission of altered documents to Opposition Members of Parliament during the 2019 budget debates, the sheer audacity of such an act was unprecedented as well as unlawful, in a forceful presentation on this issue, MP Priya Manickchand said “The Finance Minister has no jurisdiction, no right, no ability, to alter that and present it to us in a document him, or you, or anyone in the Parliament Office thinks will be convenient. What the law says is we must get it as it is submitted. We do not have that. If we’re to represent the people of this country, we must see what was submitted” Oversight requires vigilance against sleight of hand and strong representation to resist attempt to suppress.
The very first monies earned from Oil, the infamous $18 Million USD signing bonus was hidden until leaked documents proved its existence. Ministers of Government lied barefacedly in response to repeated questioning by members of the media. The media was told the contract was a matter of ‘national security’ and was only released after a leaked letter showed public servants were directed to hide the money outside of the consolidated fund. Civil society members are still calling for copies of the bridging deeds to no avail. What guarantees are being offered that ‘oversight’ will be rewarded by anything but lies by the APNU+AFC?
As to the Production Sharing Agreement that Mr. Greenidge would have us accept blindly, many are examining this colossal failure by the Granger Administration that has bound us to massive losses, it would have been nice if we could have provided some ‘oversight’ of the PSA negotiations carried out under Raphael Trotman. Although it may not have been subject to oversight by the citizenry at the time, it will surely be thoroughly examined in the near future.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Singh
