Norton’s Compounded Predicament-Trying to build on a lying foundation

Dear Editor,
I am amused that Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, is still defending the former Government, APNU/AFC (A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change), for being clandestine over the US$18M signing bonus, that stemmed from ExxonMobil, as well as its initial reluctance to release the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with the oil giant, even amidst mounting pressure from the general public. I mean, we are still in the middle of the last election rig-ma-role court battles, where all kinds of lying will be exposed. Yet this silly game of subterfuge is being practised by the head man of the opposition. I guess bold-faced denial is now a perfunctory response from the opposition. It seems all too natural.
Editor, I go back to erstwhile President David Granger, in the latter part of 2017, who virtually was forced to admit he was responsible for the chicanery surrounding the US$18M ExxonMobil signing bonus. In an act of dissimulation, he ‘tried’ to explain that he was responsible for the sum “… being put into an escrow account at the Bank of Guyana, a decision he believes was necessary at the time so that Guyana could be prepared for a National Security Emergency.”
We need to remember that this was some months of silence on whether or not a bonus was paid. So, after the ‘lying and dodging’ was no longer possible, the admission came in the form of an untenable excuse.
I recall too, and the records can be checked, that in league with the party top brass, the then Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, admitted to the National Assembly that his government did receive the signing bonus, which he had for months refused to confirm. He too cracked under pressure. His denial detoured into saying that “… the bonus was intended to be used for legal fees about the preservation of Guyana’s territorial integrity in the (then) potential court case stemming from its border controversy with Venezuela.”
As a caveat, truth coalesces without variance, while lying ends in all kinds of striations. As we all know, in the end, and backed into a corner, the truth was officially declared that ExxonMobil did pay over a signing bonus of US$18 million.
Now in that trend of deception and misleading, Aubrey Norton, knowing full well that the truth is well documented is saying that his “… Policies, Strategies and Principles for the Development of the Oil and Gas Sector.” According to him, “… this document (is all about) the party’s blueprint for managing the oil and gas industry going forward.
So very funny!
Readers, he, Aubrey Norton, is avowing that “Among the list of policies is a pledge to “institute a Publication of Information Protocol, ensuring that all information, including, but not limited to contracts, agreements, contractors’ quarterly reports, new discoveries, updated reserves and production data, will be made available and accessible to the public conveniently and timely”.
On this point of being transparent, just back in October 22, amidst irrefutable claims by Annette Ferguson, of glaring “irregularities” at the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) October 2 Georgetown District Elections, Leader of the party, Aubrey Norton still endorsed the polls as “free and fair”. So, I join the host of people who want to know how the main opposition would generate confidence in ‘promises for full disclosure, given the record (that is so accessible).
Mind you, this is his chorus all the while: “I would say to you that the signing bonus was taken and it went to what it was intended for. That alone should reassure people that we are people to our word… there is no contradiction,”
Thus, I reinforce the truth during the tenure of the APNU+AFC coalition government, the renegotiated PSA with ExxonMobil and its partners, finalised in June 2016, was not made public until December 2017, that is months after the government of that day had faced intense criticism for its ‘secrecy.’
I guess Norton’s denial and refusal to accept reality will be the same after all the rulings of the election rigging cases are over and done with. Currently, dilatory tactics are delaying the inevitable. As we know, the defendants in these cases include People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) activist, Carol Smith-Joseph; former Health Minister, Volda Lawrence; former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; and GECOM staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller. Frightening! They are facing 19 conspiracy charges related to alleged electoral fraud.
Norton will do better with some apologies.

Yours truly,
Hargesh B Singh