Your Eyewitness isn’t sure if Aubrey Norton and Volda Lawrence are old enough to know the 60’s doo-wop hit by the Crests – “Step by Step”. But it’s clear that David Granger certainly is!! Breaking his more-than-three-months silence, he implicitly explained why he wasn’t gonna be rushed into naming Norton to Parliament, and giving him a shot at being elected by his peers on the Opposition Benches as “Opposition Leader”. It was gonna be “step by step”!
Call him what you will…the man’s certainly consistent in insisting he’ll only do what’s “fit and proper” – step by step – by the constitution!! “The Representative of the List has followed and acted in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana and the Representation of the People Act with regard to the resignation and replacement of members to the National Assembly at all material times,” said Granger in the third person!! He took great pains to note he was only now informed by the National Assembly of the two vacancies.
The resignations of Harmon – his right-hand man who had to have informed him personally, and Nicolette Henry, which was in the press for the past months, wasn’t proper notice. The pleas of the PNC constituency to get on with the dire need for an Opposition Leader wasn’t enough.
Now, your Eyewitness isn’t sure where that “requirement” for notice by the National Assembly was a prerequisite for the Rep of the List to act, but who’s he to doubt Granger on Constitutional interpretation? Didn’t he tell the Chief Justice (snarkily) after she made one such ruling that she had her “opinion” and so did he??!!
Well, now Granger’s taken the step 1. He ordered Norton and Ramjattan – as leaders of PNC and AFC respectively – to hold “meaningful consultations” to fill the MPs’ vacancies. Apparently, news that Norton had already been chosen by the PNC’s CEC didn’t cut any ice. The meeting was duly held – even though Ramjattan said he wasn’t sure why he had to get involved in a PNC matter!! But he “didn’t want to give Granger any new excuse”!! Step 2. Granger informed GECOM CEO of his communication.
The PNC quickly selected Volda Lawrence to join Norton, and this was communicated to Granger. But after Ramjattan’s skeptical (scoffing?) reaction to Granger’s instruction, one wonders whether the Sanctimonious Gangster would accept the consultations as “meaningful”!! After all, it’s clear that he doesn’t see his role as the “Representative of the List” for the Coalition as a messenger boy. Remember how he interpreted the CCJ’s order for him to select a GECOM Chair from a Jagdeo list of 6??
The song spoke of SEVEN steps!! Stay tuned for more interpretations!!
…oil production ratchets up
Even before the Ukraine war put a squeeze on oil supplies – pushing oil prices upwards – Guyana had already agreed with the Exxon consortium to pump the oil out as fast as they could!! The Government argued – and your Eyewitness always held – that while oil will be needed till the end of the century, renewables are gonna satisfy an increasing percentage of fuel demand. That makes accelerated production a no-brainer!!
Well, starting from 124,000 bpd in 2019 with one FPSO, we’ve now reached 350,000 bpd with a second FPSO. Making the decision even sweeter is that the war’s pushed prices way beyond US$100/barrel from the initial miserly US$35 or thereabouts!! How sweet it is!! Well, the 3rd FPSO WILL arrive in 2024, and by 2025 – election year – a 4th will be servicing the just approved Yellowtail and reach 800,000 bpd!! With our share being 112,000bpd!! Or US$11,200,000 every day @US$100/bpd!!
Two years later we’ll be hitting 1,2 MILLION bpd!!
…to a more normal politics
Your Eyewitness believes Aubrey Norton’s much too experienced to be “cranked up” by those stuck in the past, not to appreciate that “the times are a changin’”.
With our massive oil wealth, politics doesn’t have to be zero sum no mo’!
