Opposition Leader slams President for silence on Global Witness exposé

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has called out President David Granger for not accepting responsibility and for being silent on the damning revelations in the Global Witness report, which called for a probe into the roles of Government officials in the signing of the 2016 oil contract.

Though the Guyana Government as an entity would have responded to the report by debunking its findings, Jagdeo said the President should take responsibility for the situation.
“Take responsibility. This guy is in charge of this Government, the last time I checked. He’s still the President for Guyana. He takes responsibility for nothing. Absolutely nothing. And he’s in charge,” the Opposition Leader said at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
International corruption watchdog, Global Witness, found that the 2016 oil contract which was negotiated by the current Administration could cause Guyana to lose billions, that there were conflicts of interest at play, and that the country’s negotiating team ignored expert advice.

Jagdeo, in responding to Government’s claims, argued that the People’s Progressive Party did not influence the Global Witness report.
“They were busy touting this international organisation as being great but when other credible international organisations have this to say like this report that we saw, the damning report, suddenly they’re not to be believed or they’re people from the PPP. Let me say that the People’s Progressive Party did not bring Global Witness here. We have no such power over Global Witness – which is an international NGO,” Jagdeo affirmed.
“Signed away” was written by Global Witness, a US-based non-governmental organisation, in efforts to bring clarity into the negotiations of Guyana’s oil deal. Among its recommendations was for Guyana’s Government to investigate the role played by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman in brokering the deal.
The report expressed concern over the lacklustre negotiations on Guyana’s behalf and blames the Minister for not representing Guyana’s interests. In addition, the report states Trotman was supposed to have had new information on the Stabroek Block that ought to have strengthened his hand during negotiations. Instead, this card was not played.
“Trotman failed to capitalise on Guyana’s strong bargaining position. During negotiations, he knew that the company was analysing a new possible oil find. Even though the company would announce its results on a specific day: June 28, 2016,” the report stated.
“But the Minister did not wait for these results, which would have allowed Guyana to assess Stabroek’s true value and which turned out to be one of the world’s largest recent finds. Instead, on June 27, Trotman signed Exxon’s licence”.
Referencing a report allegedly prepared by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) after the negotiations, Global Witness claimed that GGMC officials had at the time thought it unrealistic to press Exxon for a better deal.
According to Global Witness, part of the report stated: “I have the view that there may be a fair chance to model some notional improved royalty to kick in, but I also speculate that in the environment of deep water, deep target development, the price of oil would have to go up significantly [to achieve that].”
In fact, Global Witness claims that Guyana presented feeble terms to the company and that expert advice that more financial information was needed was ignored by Guyana’s team. Even the Government’s own advisor on petroleum at the time, Dr Jan Mangal, had criticised Guyana’s two per cent royalty on earnings from oil sales, which he said is low compared to global standards. Mangal’s contract was subsequently not renewed by the Government.
In 2018, President David Granger transferred responsibility for oil from Trotman to the Ministry of the Presidency. A Department of Energy was created, with Dr Mark Bynoe as its head. Oil production started officially last year December, with Guyana expected to have its first share of the oil in the coming weeks.