Dear Editor,
The revelation of the Government’s VP who oversees oil and gas that the almost $US9 billion Liza 1 and Liza 2 expenses have not been audited is tantamount to the Government aiding and abetting the fleecing of Guyana’s resources. The sin of omission of failure to do audits is as bad as the sin of commission of wrongdoing. No excuse can absolve the Government of this grave sin against the nation. This is not Exxon doing it to us. This is our own Government doing it to us.
Here we are at the beginning of our oil journey and we are already in the “resource curse” syndrome. The ongoing Public Accounts Committee’s hearings are all about how the country’s monies are being misspent and there is poor accountability, poor record keeping, missing receipts of transactions and payments running into hundreds of millions of dollars, and at the end of the hearings nobody is going to jail for the unaccounted millions. Yet we have poorly equipped hospitals that kill our loved ones, dialysis treatment is unavailable in most of Guyana, most of our village roads are mud roads still, our schools are primitive, Internet services are unavailable or poor in most of Guyana, and we have a long list of urgent needs. We are a “rich nation of poor people” as the President said. Nation, what sins have we committed that in our politics we vote for one set of dullards to replace the previous set? When is this vicious cycle going to stop?
The KN, Glenn Lall, SN, Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN), TIGI, environmental groups, and nationalists such as Christopher Ram and others, have been harping on the need to complete audits since the agreement has only a two-year window to do so. We gave ongoing warnings to the Government. The Government had a chance to use Payara as leverage to secure changes in audit timelines but chose not to. The Yellowtail well approval is coming up and that can be used as leverage to secure an increase in time to complete audits. Will the Government ask for more time to complete audits? In my view, the failure to complete audits is criminal and failure to do due diligence. There might be a cause of action for private criminal action to be filed against those responsible for ensuring the oil accounts are audited. The Government cannot say we lack capacity to do audits or whatever else and think that’s a good excuse, and then adopt a “drill baby drill” stance. If you are unprepared to manage oil, do you go faster or slow down? How many of the proposed 20,000 scholarships are aligned to building our capacity for oil governance, oil accounting and auditing, environmental and general monitoring needs? Minister Hamilton said during a conference of the Pan American Development Foundation that we do not have a recent Manpower Study. Why not? How are we doing Needs Assessments for manpower development?
Guyana has sent all the wrong signals to the Oil Operators that we are ill prepared to manage, monitor, and govern oil efficiently and effectively, that we lack the political skill and political will to do so, and that it will be a free ride for the oil companies to do whatever they want in Guyana, and nobody (Government and Opposition) will stop them. So oil companies can continue to flare gas and take indecent liberties with the environment, local content can wait, they can use “shell” companies and operate without proper insurance for oil spills, and our Government and Opposition will not be bothered by that.
So nation, the oil companies get the bulk of the benefits from oil, and we the people get big ‘larwah’ because the PNC gave away the kit and caboodle, with low royalty, low profit sharing, inadequate insurance for oil spills and accidents, we pay the oil companies taxes, and oil barons make extra money because our current leaders do not know how to audit the $US9 billion bills the oil companies gave us to pay (equivalent of more than 4 years of Guyana’s budget spending). How can a country do business like that? It’s the oil companies and our Government on one side versus we the people on the other side. Our Government should not be the facilitators of the fleecing of Guyana, while our people struggle to make ends meet.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
