Defensive…

…concession by PNC
The PNC Government finally responded to the Global Witness (GW) exposé of Trotman’s betrayal of our patrimony in “negotiating” the 2016 oil contract, late in the day. But the response betrayed the same lack of preparedness that Trotman displayed when he gave away the store in Houston. To scream, “The report is sensationalist, agenda-driven, and extraordinarily speculative”, without a blow-by-blow refutation merely exposes the PNC as caught like a deer in the headlights!!
They first sought to damage the credibility of the messenger Global Witness – which immediately signalled they had no real answer to the charges!! They started by quoting Forbes Magazine that the GW piece was “an ideologically motivated attack piece aimed at some of the biggest players in the oil and gas industry. Which, given the group’s history, comes as no surprise at all.” Fair enough…after all GW wears its ideological orientation is its tagline: “exposing the economic networks behind conflict, corruption & environmental abuse”!
But what about Forbes?? Isn’t it an unabashed defender and advocate of capitalism as the one true path to fulfil its motto of “Change the world”!! Isn’t this “ideological”? Now don’t get your Eyewitness wrong – as you, Dear Reader, would know he’s an ardent defender of the free enterprise system himself!! But he readily concedes his ideological leanings – as should Forbes when it takes on GW!! To baldly say that GW’s piece was “ideologically motivated” doesn’t do much for the PNC’s cause!! Same with the said PNC claiming the GW report is ‘agenda driven”!!  It’s like the pot calling the “kahari” black!!
The PNC further exposed its desperation when it claimed, “This timing (of the GW Report) cannot be seen as a coincidence and it appears as though it is seeking to influence the electoral outcome.” C’mon now!! Even though your Eyewitness is amused by these “do-gooder” NGOs from the “first world” that “look out” for the interests of us benighted natives, in the decades GW’s been around, they’ve never gotten involved with electing governments!! Not that their exposés of corruption mightn’t have influenced the voting behaviour of some outraged citizens!! Honestly now, just look at the responses here in Guyana to the Report: have the revelations of Trotman’s perfidy chased away any PNC voter??
Next the PNC quoted Rystad Energy. Your Eyewitness isn’t even going to delve into accusations that they’re quite connected to the oil majors. He just wants to know how 2 per cent royalty plus 50 per cent (1/2) of the 25 per cent profit oil equals 60 per cent of the “take”??
And how could they compare us to neighbouring Suriname when they received a US$100 million bonus and all we got was a measly US$18 million??!

…giveaway rationale
Your Eyewitness must say he’s quite disappointed with GW’s report as to how Trotman was seduced when he, Patterson, and Gaskin went out to Houston April 28-30, 2016. According to GW, “The trip was a glamorous affair. Trotman flew first class, slept in pricey hotels, ate at Joule – Exxon’s exclusive Wolfgang Puck restaurant – and was chauffeured around in limousines. Exxon paid for it all.”
Trotman insists that during this trip he didn’t discuss the Stabroek licence, but went to a room where they smelt oil boring samples!! But the webpage declares that they “engaged in interactive sessions that covered important topics such as an exploration update, development of the well for production, capacity building to ensure Guyanese involvement and OWNERSHIP IN THE VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRY, and the energy outlook to 2040, which showed petroleum remaining in high demand.”
Doesn’t “ownership”, as far as the oil company was concerned, include the licence?
There wasn’t only the “smell of oil” in Houston, but the smell of corruption!!

…on dual citizenship
Shuman, head of the Amerindian party, insists he’s renounced his Canadian citizenship and sent the certificate to GECOM as proof. Which GECOM denies!! He can’t produce even a PHOTOCOPY of the certificate he supposedly received only weeks before, to reporters!!
Imagine him negotiating an oil contract from 1999??