Dear Editor,
The recent statement “we needed money” by the leadership of the AFC is ridiculous. They know that the citizens of this country are well aware that they rushed to sign the contract with Exxon without full debate and hid the signing bonus from the public. They also received funds for their family members under the guise of scholarships. The lead negotiator at the time was so arrogant that he stated he had learned to negotiate at Harvard. Upon a closer look, it wasn’t even part of a degree programme. If they had taken the time to properly consult with others in the industry or at a minimum benchmark the best-in-class contracts for offshore drilling, the royalty rate would be in the double digits. The USA Law Library of Congress published in January 2015 crude oil royalty rates in selected countries. Based on this information, a royalty rate in the low to high teens would not have been unreasonable.
No Guyanese who wants what is best for our country will trust the AFC and APNU again. Thousands of sugar industry jobs destroyed out of racially motivated revenge. Many Indians lost their income and everyone is aware of how little help our community received from the Opposition when they were in power. The AFC couldn’t even carry Whim as a result of the clear racial bias of the APNU/AFC Government. Now thanks to their and their partners’ greed, our fisherfolk and those dependent on the fishing industry are living off of Government handouts. Even the hardworking sugar workers had to await the support of the PPP/C to be able to better take care of their families. For the AFC to now turn and say that they were concerned about the country and wanted to urgently make more money is utterly ridiculous. Make more money for whom? Greed took hold of them and they wasted the long-awaited opportunity that they were given. The we in “we needed money” is the sound of a pig going wee wee wee. No one should be willing to take such a risk again.
Best regards,
Jamil Changlee
