WPA should not try to make fools of Guyanese people

Dear Editor,
I have read the statement from Dr David Hinds on behalf of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and I saw its call for all civic organisations to begin discussions on the prospects of the coming oil and gas and the call for the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government to not make final policy and governance arrangements without inputs from these discussions. I find it very strange that this call would come from the WPA so late, especially since civil society people, like Christopher Ram, have been speaking consistently about oil and gas issues, but have been ignored. Even on the Al Jazeera programme on Guyana’s oil and gas sector, Christopher Ram pointed out that the APNUAFC coalition Government is unwilling to accept contributions from civil society.
I have also read what seems to be a defence of the APNU/AFC coalition Government’s failure to ensure that the necessary legal framework for the oil and gas sector is in place. The WPA said, “This rapid development is partly responsible for the lag in setting up the institutional and legal framework.” I find it very strange that such a weak excuse would from the WPA. Is this all they could manage, three years after the APNU/AFC coalition Government said it started working on a legal framework? Is the WPA trying to excuse the incompetence of the APNU/AFC coalition Government?
I read too that the WPA said the developmental challenges associated with managing the petro economy should not be underestimated. This again, I find very strange, since the WPA, until now, has ignored all the calls for the same thing and has not supported civil society voices who have called for a change.
The WPA should not try to make fools of Guyanese people with the strange calls that have been made with even stranger timing.

Regards,
Arnold Sanasie