Dear Editor,
Thank you for your front page reports and commentary (April 2, 23) on the audit of Exxon’s claimed expenditures. The shocking part of the revelation is not the US$214M disputed expenses (out of $1.67 B) claimed by Exxon but the availability of the audit itself for public perusal and the extensive attempt to hid it from the nation. Your news report stated that the audit was available for some two years (since 2021) but it was not made available to the public. The government behaved as though no audit was done and that one was forthcoming. Throughout 2021 and again in early 2022 as well as earlier this year, when asked by reporters about an audit, both the President and Vice President said it would be done and appeared unconcerned about deadlines as per the contract with Exxon.
In fact, in 2022, a consortium of local and foreign companies was contracted (G$150.5M as per SN report of Aug 14, 2022) to carry out an audit of Exxon suggesting that no audit was done till then. Lo and behold, the nation now learns that an audit was done and available for some two years. Why then did the government contract accounting firms to do an audit when it was already done? Isn’t that wasting financial resources (G$150.5 M as per SN report of Aug 14, 2022) which could have been spent say on raising old age pensions or on some other needy project? Or is this a different audit? Was there some deal to pay off would be auditors? And why the secrecy of this particular audit report? Why the report wasn’t made available to the public after all oil and gas industry is not a private matter. It is national asset about which the public is entitled to the release of all information related to exploration, development, and production.
Why has the government kept the audit away from the public? I think the nation would be curious to know how SN and others manage to lay their hand on the audit report. Was it released by the government? Is it available to the public? The behaviour of the PPP government on the audit is worse than that of the coalition in releasing the oil contract and in seeking to hide the US$18M signing bonus. It appears that the PPP is in a competition for the title of which government is worse in managing the oil and gas contract and auditing revenues. The PPP is winning the race. The behaviour of both the coalition and PPP in government affirms that Guyana is a doomed country; neither government has demonstrated the kind of resource patriotism and management of assets that is in the best interests of Guyanese. Neither Burnham nor Jagan would have compromised the nation’s natural resources as this and the preceding government.
The PPP promised to be an open, transparent, honest, and accountable government. It has betrayed the nation’s trust as it has not honored this commitment and has behaved worse than its predecessor. It must pay a price for its dishonesty. With national elections less than two and a half years away, Guyanese should start thinking of another political force rather than the two racialized behemoths that would better manage the country’s resources.
Sincerely,
Ashley Clarke
