…to renegotiate Exxon’s PSA
Well, with the Elections campaign well on its way after four weeks of mudslinging, the politicians on the hustings are hard-pressed to make pronouncements that’s gonna hold their audiences’ attention. The problem is – and it IS a problem – when all you can do is make promises, you gotta keep making DRAMATIC NEW promises every time you jump on that stage!! And you just can’t make any old promises – you gotta keep tabs on your Opponents’ promises and trump those!! The question then arises as to where this will end – when we have got thirty-plus days to go!!
The latest promise by PNC/APNU, AFC, and the sanctioned-led WIN is they’ll renegotiate the Exxon Stabroek Block PSA!! Imagine that!! Norton had been hemming and hawing on the issue since he’d become PNC leader in 2022. Clearly, they’ve chosen to go down this road to embarrass the PPP – which had complained bitterly when Trotman – on behalf of APNU/AFC had traipsed over to Texas to negotiate the PSA – AFTER oil had been struck in 2015!! In a reversal of the old ditty, Trotty put in a plum (OUR billions of barrels of sweet crude!!) and pulled out a thumb (a measly 2 per cent royalty and 12.5 per cent profits)!!
The PPP has been stymied from going forward on renegotiating by two formidable hurdles – one a “stabilisation clause” agreed to by the PNC stipulating the contract can’t be unilaterally altered – even by legislation!! And then, of course, there are the realpolitik risks of taking on a US oil major in the courts or international arbitral tribunals – where their deep pockets give them an inordinate advantage!! So how come the Opposition parties are now willing to go to the mat??
Well, for the WIN fella who’s already sanctioned, he figures he might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb!! And for PNC/APNU/AFC, we know THEY know exactly what went down in Texas!! NOBODY would give away the store like Trotman did without some serious hanky-panky and footsies played under the table!! Trotman admitted he didn’t even consult his advisors who accompanied him – but was given the go-ahead by “David Granger and his Cabinet”!! So what if they’re now thrown under the bus – he’d been cleared, hadn’t he??
And so it is – if you can prove hanky-panky in contract negotiations then – Voila!! – the contract can be voided by the courts!! The fly in the ointment, of course, is that all in the know would be facing some SERIOUS jail time!! But since all of those fellas and felines are now out of the rump PNC and AFC, why should Norton worry??
All is fair in love and war… And politics is war, innit??
… on Chinese supermarkets
When developing countries talk about attracting “foreign direct investment” (FDI), trust your Eyewitness when he says they ain’t talking about attracting supermarkets!! They generally mean the setting up of factories that’s gonna train locals in running them – to produce manufactured goods that’ll then be exported to bring in foreign exchange to create higher standards of living!! Like what the US and the West did in China from 1980 onwards to make them the “factory of the world” – and not incidentally now a developed country!!
So when your Eyewitness has been complaining about Chinese supermarkets opening up faster than jumbie umbrellas in every nook and cranny in our country – he wonders how come there hasn’t been some kinda investigation as to how come they’re able to be so overwhelming??. In this globalised world where we can buy wholesale even from China –there gotta be some hanky-panky going down.
Your Eyewitness is chuffed that ALL the parties in the elections – including the PPP – promise to investigate the matter!!
…on top jurists
How can the electorate trust Aubrey Norton when he started out as PNC leader by refusing to shake Pres Ali’s hand – and now refuses to hold “meaningful discussions” with Pressie to appoint a permanent Chancellor and CJ??
