The disgrace of the oil deals will definitely go down in the annals of Guyana’s history and in the history of the world among the worst deals ever made by any country. Our vast, rich oil reserves have been given away in a platter to the oil companies. The deal is so disgraceful, even the responsible Minister, Raphael Trotman, is desperately trying to untangle himself from the travesty. First, he insisted it was his staff that negotiated the deals, throwing them under the bus. Now he insists he was merely carrying out instructions. Guyanese, no matter what their political affiliations, are dismayed and disgusted and are asking where SARA and SOCU are.
Even if it was Trotman’s staff who negotiated the oil deals, not an unusual arrangement, did he not read the contract before he signed it? If he read it and then signed it, he endorsed what was negotiated and is guilty of bad judgement, gross incompetence and recklessness in giving away our oil. If he signed it without reading the deal, then he is guilty of negligence and this is even worse. But now he confesses he signed the deal, acting on instructions. I would imagine that the instructions can only come from the President or the full Cabinet. Or is it someone else? There are now even more serious questions. The Guyanese people must be given answers.
This is a Government that has witch-hunted officials of the past PPP government, even charging them with selling State lands at prices APNU/AFC claimed were below market prices. If lands allegedly sold at below-market value represent a crime, now translated into charges for former PPP Ministers, then the giving away of Guyana’s oil must be far more serious. The giving away of Guyana’s oil reserves is a loss we will endure every day for the rest of our lives, for the entire duration of the oil reserve, costing us many billions. We signed a deal for a signing bonus of $18 million with Exxon when Brazil signed a deal with a quantity of oil less than Guyana’s for more than $700 million. With Tullow, we signed a contract with a signing bonus of zero dollars, the only country Tullow signed with without a signing bonus. We signed a deal for a royalty at 2% in the case of Exxon and 1% with Tullow when other countries signed with royalties of between 8 and 36%.
Finally, our black gold will bring wealth, but not to Guyana and Guyanese, because of the recklessness of Trotman and APNU/AFC. Surely, the Exxon and Tullow deals are sweetheart deals. Giving away all of Guyana’s OIL and billions of dollars for generations to come has to be a crime. Will anyone be held responsible for squandering Guyana’s wealth, even before we see a single dollar of that wealth?
Now that elections are around the corner, the oil deals have become an intense national discourse, with the total dissection of the travesty. Trotman is trying desperately to remove himself from the inevitable disgrace that is already sinking in. At the same time, some of his colleagues are promising instant wealth to every Guyanese. If you listen to some of them, come 2020, as the first barrel of OIL rolls out, every Guyanese will become an instant beneficiary, some even insisting every Guyanese will receive a million dollars a year of free money, more than $US5B annually. In the same breath, they also say Guyana will only get about $US100M annually for the first few years. How then can the Government distribute $US5B annually?
Who do they think they are fooling? Their track record in the last four and a half years speak for itself – they have forked tongues, lying every day, everywhere. They lied when they promised rice farmers $9,000 per bag of paddy. They lied when they said they would not close any sugar estate. They lied when they promised sugar workers 20% annual wage increases or the public servants huge pay increases. They lied when they said they would reverse all pay increases the President and the Ministers got under the PPP. They lied when they said they would reject extravagance, like fancy vehicles and fancy offices. They lied when they said they would be accountable and transparent, they would end corruption. The list is unending. But as OIL gets nearer, it has become clearer to every Guyanese someone already gave away all of it and Guyanese are left quarrelling over crumbs. There should be and must be consequences.
