….Jagdeo, Ram maintain Patterson lied, was ‘completely wrong’
Minister of State Joseph Harmon has come to the defence of his Cabinet colleague, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, when he this past week claimed that all of the offshore petroleum blocks had been farmed out by former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson
The former President, now Opposition Leader, had repudiated the claims as lies and pointed to reference material supplied by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), which pointed to blocks still being available.
According to the Government’s Chief Spokesman, however, “When Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson speaks as a Minister of Government, he speaks on behalf of the coalition Government.”
He was at the time addressing members of the media for a post-Cabinet briefing and was asked to give clarity to pronouncements since the claims by Patterson have been dismissed by numerous persons as inaccurate.
Minister Harmon told media operatives, “I am quite sure that Minister Patterson is quite aware of the statement that he made with respect of the offshore concessions, I don’t know where the Leader of the Opposition is seeking to have some kind of confusion about it, he knows fully what Minister Patterson is talking about.”
According to Minister Harmon, “Minister Patterson I know is technically competent and careful enough to be able to explain that situation again if necessary, but Minister Patterson was talking about offshore concessions.”
He did indicate to members of the media that there was a Government position on the matter as against an A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) or Alliance For Change (AFC) version.
Social commentators, Chartered Accountant and practicing Attorney, Christopher Ram, was among the first to dismiss Patterson’s assertion this past week as erroneous.
Speaking at a public talk held at the Moray House on Friday last on the oil sector, its opportunities and challenges, Ram had called on Minister Patterson to refrain from misleading the Guyanese people on what exactly had been given out.
Ram told those in attendance at the event held at Moray House on Camp Street, Georgetown, that when Patterson insinuated that the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration had given out all of the petroleum oil blocks, he was in fact 100 per cent wrong.
“At least stick to the facts, if you don’t know the facts don’t speak, this was completely wrong,”
Ram noted too that not only are there several petroleum blocks still available, but the coalition APNU/AFC did in fact hand out petroleum blocks to operators when it took office.
He pointed to the Petroleum Prospecting Licence and Production Sharing Agreement with the joint venture team of Tullow Guyana B V and Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc for a concession of 1801 square kilometres in the Orinduik Block, offshore, Guyana which was issued in January 2016 under the coalition Administration.
Opposition Leader Jagdeo had subsequently called for Minister Patterson to be fired for his plethora of blatant lies.
He had accused Minister Patterson of seeking to deflect from the substantive allegations he had laid, namely that relatives and friends of Ministers in the Administration were applying for Exploration and Prospecting Licences in order to sell to third party for a profit.
Jagdeo told media operatives, these companies comprise complex shareholding structures meant to perpetuate the corrupt act.
At a press conference on Tuesday last, Jagdeo produced a map dated February 2017 from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), and noted that only 10 licences were issued under the former Government, none of which were issued under his tenure.
He added that several blocks are still available.
The Opposition Leader charged, “…it is a clever strategy on the part of Patterson not to deal with the substance of what I was saying which is that there is corruption, but to then go and say that Jagdeo gave out all oil blocks and that there is nothing left… imagine that these people went to a press conference and said Jagdeo can’t be trusted. He is a liar. Then they proceed to lie to the nation that there are no more blocks available when their own Government statistics show that there are several blocks available.
He was adamant, “it is a lie by Patterson. It is incompetence and it is sinister; because now that he says that there is nothing available, Jagdeo gave it all out it, means that they can secretly give out all the substantial blocks because (as far as the nation knows) there is nothing left.”
Jagdeo insisted Minister Patterson should be fired for lying to the nation. “This Minister should be fired for lying… what Patterson said at that press conference is a lie and no amount of obfuscation, no amount of the Kaieteur News’ lies that they keep peddling and the fake news can change that fact… there is not a thread of truth in the fabric of lies which Patterson presented to the media.”
