Accountability Watch

In last week’s article, we mentioned some of the key findings contained in the IMF report entitled “Guyana: A reform Agenda for Petroleum Taxation and Revenue Management”, dated November 2017.

Accountability Watch welcomes last Thursday’s release of the agreement between ExxonMobil’s subsidiaries and the Government of Guyana, notwithstanding that it was not a voluntary act on the latter’s part.

The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada has found that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated some provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act when he vacationed last Christmas season on a private island owned by the Aga Khan, including the use of the Agha Khan’s private helicopter.

In our last article, we referred to the US$18 million signing bonus that the Government received from ExxonMobil.

We must all express our gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Christopher Ram for disclosing that the Government was in receipt of a signing bonus of US$20 million from ExxonMobil.

Last week, we concluded out review of the report of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) on the procurement of $632 million worth of drugs and medical supplies for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corpora-tion (GPHC).

Last week, we began a discussion of the report of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) on the procurement of pharmaceuticals for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

This is our fourth article for the year on the procurement of pharmaceuticals for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Last Monday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began its meeting in Bonn, Germany, mainly to review progress made since the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change to which 197 countries are signatories.

This article is based on a presentation that I made at Moray House last Thursday evening.

A few weeks ago, I made a presentation on behalf of the Transparency Institute Guyana Inc.

At a recent function to rename the Centre of Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick in honour of our renowned business icon Yesu Persaud, I met Mr.

  Audit is not an end in itself, but an indispensable part of a regulatory system whose aim is to reveal deviations from accepted standards and violations of the principles of legality, efficiency, effectiveness and economy of financial management early enough to make it possible to take corrective action in individual cases, to make those accountable accept responsibility, to obtain compensation, or to take steps to prevent or at least render more difficult, such breaches.

The Audit Office of Guyana was established in 1884 as a Colonial Audit Department.

Another iceberg about four and a half times the size of Manhattan and measuring some 103 square miles in surface area, has broken off Antarctica.

Last Wednesday, the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California filed separate lawsuits against five oil companies – ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Royal Dutch Shell –  seeking compensation to protect them against rising sea levels which they blame on climate change.

You can see the effects of climate change and scientists have clearly said what path we have to follow…All of us have a responsibility, all of us, small or large, a moral responsibility.

(Part III) Climate change is no longer an issue of the future.

This column has been hesitant to comment on the recent visit to the Houston headquarters of ExxonMobil by five Ministers of the Government, the Petroleum Advisor to the President and two staff members of the Ministry of Natural Resources, until the fact are known as to the purpose for the trip and the source of funding.

A country’s natural resources, such as oil, gas, metals and minerals, belong to its citizens.