With amendments to the Ramps Logistics application for local content certification now submitted, Director of the Local Content Secretariat (LCS) Martin Pertab has said that a review of the documentation has started.
“The application is under review. They would have submitted documents requested as outlined in our letter…” Pertab disclosed in a brief telephone interview with this newspaper. He added that while the review is underway, he could not say when it will be completed.
Ramps amended its application after the LCS denied it its local content certification, which is a requirement to operate in the oil and gas sector.
Pertab, in his letter explaining the rationale behind the decision, had identified a number of areas in which the company failed to satisfy the requirements for certification.
In the June 27 correspondence to the company, in response to an application made on April 12, Pertab stated, “Upon a review of that application, the information submitted were found to be insufficient for a proper compliance evaluation to be done by the Secretariat in accordance with the requirements of the Act.”
Pertab’s letter, seen by this newspaper, identified a number of grounds on which the application was denied, among which were questionable documents which did not clearly state the amendments to incorporation and the failure to have their executive board of directors be 75 per cent Guyanese.
The reasons came after days of silence despite repeated requests by Ramps. The response which was provided to Ramps’ attorneys, Satram and Satram, came two weeks after an initial letter was sent requesting the reasons for the decision taken against Ramps Logistics Guyana.
Pertab, in his correspondence, had informed the law firm that while an applicant is free to seek reasons on the grounds of their application being denied, the Secretariat will “respond as soon as reasonably practical.” He further reminded the company’s attorneys that under the Act, submitting false or misleading information for the issuance of a certificate of qualification to be registered on a Local Content Register is an offence which is punishable by a fine of GY$10,000,000 on summary conviction. The onus to submit documents which are not false or misleading is on the Applicant.
In a brief statement on Wednesday night, Ramps Logistics Guyana said that it was looking forward to working together with the LCS to promptly resolve this situation. However, when the company submitted its amendments, its attorneys argued that the rationale provided by the LCS was not in keeping with the powers conferred on it. Writing directly to Pertab, the law firm contended that Ramps Logistics has at all times satisfied the requirements of the Act for registration as a local company.
“We do not concede that your requests and/or demands are lawful and in keeping with powers conferred upon the Secretariat by the Local Content Act. We also do not accept and/or concede that the reasons offered by you on behalf of the Secretariat are relevant, adequate or justify the refusal of registration to the Applicant. Our client has decided to meet your demands entirely in the interest of expediency and in an effort to secure timely registration under the Act,” the attorneys argued in a three-page response to the LCS Director.
The company in its new documents provided to the secretariat, shared a copy of the Resignation of Rudy Rampersad, the Notice of Change of Directors, the Notice of Change of Secretary, and the relevant Resolution of the Board of Directors. “In the spirit of an early resolution of the issues which were raised in your letter, our client has complied with all your demands even though, in our view, your requests are outside of the parameters of the powers vested in the Secretariat under the Act… We anticipate that the registration would now be granted without delay,” the letter concluded.
It was explained by Ramps Director Samantha Cole at a press conference in mid-June that the company approached the LCS in April to be added to the register of local companies to provide services to the oil and gas sector, but on June 8 received an automated message informing that its application had been denied. “Your application to the Local Content Register has been refused by the Minister. You have been denied access to Local Content Register,” the email stated.
Cole says that the denial threatened the livelihoods of hundreds of Ramps employees.
The Local Content Secretariat outlines documentation to be submitted by a Guyanese national or Guyanese company registering with the Secretariat in support of their application. According to the agency’s mandate, it “aims to ensure the prioritisation of Guyanese nationals and Guyanese companies in the procurement of goods and services for the enhancement of the value chain of the petroleum sector and to enable local capacity development.”
Ramps Logistics Guyana currently employs 398 Guyanese.
Guyana’s Local Content legislation states that the Secretariat must publish its register. “The Secretariat shall cause the Local Content Registers to be published on the website of the ministry responsible for petroleum or any other media of wide circulation,” the law states. It is unclear if any company has yet received certification as to date, no company has been listed on the site. Companies which were “supplying goods or providing services to the petroleum sector,” prior to the enactment of the Local Content law had up to the end of June 2022 to submit their documents and be issued with their certification.
The certificate lasts for only one year.
