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Many things being pursued by the government are shrouded in secrecy. Before the coalition government came to power there was the oil contract between the government and ExxonMobil.
That contract was a secret. Beg as people could and later make demands, the Jagdeo and the Donald Ramotar governments refused to release the contract. In fact, it was Bharrat Jagdeo who refused to make that contract public.
When David Granger came to office, he released the contract. The nation was shocked to see how lopsided it was. There was a hue and cry that persists to this day. But before the release of the contract people made the point that after more than 100 years the people of Trinidad and Tobago were yet to see their oil contract.
Although he had seen it ever since 1999, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo came out to criticise it. He was the Opposition Leader then. In his criticism he announced that he would revisit the contract. He has had the chance to revisit the contract for the past three years. Instead, he has said when cornered that he will not revisit the contract.
One can only imagine that the oil contract would have remained a secret and all the talk going on at this time would not have been heard. But that is not the only secret. The gas to shore project is also shrouded in secrecy. The nation knows that the gas pipeline would land at Wales, West Bank Demerara. The budgetary vote on the project for this year is somewhere in the vicinity of $43 billion. And that is excluding so many factors.
Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul has tabled a motion in the National Assembly seeking full disclosure of the project.
The motion reads: WHEREAS, the Government of Guyana and Exxon Mobil are partnering to construct the Wales Gas-to-Energy Project;
AND WHEREAS, the Guyanese taxpayers in 2022 invested $24,613,000,000 and in 2023 the National Assembly of Guyana approved G$43,300,000,000;
AND WHEREAS, this National Assembly is yet to be provided with the Final Investment Plan;
AND WHEREAS, the Government of Guyana signed a Heads of Agreement with the Stabroek Block co-venturers, ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC on June 30, 2022.
BE IT RESOLVED, that this National Assembly instructs the Minister of Natural Resources to forthwith lay over to the National Assembly all documents relating to the construction of the Wales Gas-to-Energy Project and the Heads of Agreement signed on June 30, 2022.
Will this motion be heard? The Speaker of the National Assembly is known to favour the government. He has been known to deny even motions submitted as matters of public interest.
One of them had to do with a flood that had struck Guyana. The Speaker said that it was not urgent. So, this motion that seeks full disclosure of the gas to shore project may be deemed not to be in the interest of the public. But what is clear, it is going to cost billions of dollars more than the plan the coalition government had put in place.
There are other secrets. We do not know how much money we pay each year to China for the US$200 million we borrowed to build the Skeldon sugar factory. That factory began to take shape at the same time the United States Embassy in Georgetown was being opened. Jagdeo told the nation that the production cost of sugar would drop from US32 cents per pound to US12 cents per pound. Needless to say, the nation was excited. When the factory went into operation the nation suddenly found that it was using more cane than any other estate to produce a tonne of sugar. It was not productive. In fact, from the inception it became a drain on the nation.
As fate would have it, good sense prevailed and Skeldon was shelved. It became the most expensive white elephant in the world. On Monday there were photographs of this much touted US$200 million sugar factory. It was nothing but twisted metal. It had become a scrapheap. The newspaper Village Voice contained some graphic pictures. The nation is unaware of the length of time it would take to repay that loan for a pile of scrap. Indeed, it would be at least thirty years. Many of us alive today would be dead and gone and Guyana would still be paying for something it never used. That money could have gone to feed the hungry school children. Instead, we poured it into sugar where the government supporters are to the exclusion of the rest of society.
Minister Zulfikar Mustapha talks about the community. Because of GuySuCo, whether it makes a profit or not. The fall out is that families are eating and those who sell can capitalize on the sugar workers. The factory is secondary.
Guyana poured another US$100 million on the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project. That too is a non-starter. $60 billion Guyana dollars just went to dust. And people are hungry.
And then there is this talk about One Guyana. A staunch PPP member slipped a sheet of paper to a media practitioner to show what One Guyana really is. The list shows that with the exception of the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, every other agency is headed by people who are not of African ancestry. The GPHC and its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Go-Invest, EITI; the Chief Education Officer; Maritime Administration, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the state-owned media, OpEd: Money is being wasted but no consideration for the poor
Many things being pursued by the government are shrouded in secrecy. Before the coalition government came to power there was the oil contract between the government and ExxonMobil.
That contract was a secret. Beg as people could and later make demands, the Jagdeo and the Donald Ramotar governments refused to release the contract. In fact, it was Bharrat Jagdeo who refused to make that contract public.
When David Granger came to office, he released the contract. The nation was shocked to see how lopsided it was. There was a hue and cry that persists to this day. But before the release of the contract people made the point that after more than 100 years the people of Trinidad and Tobago were yet to see their oil contract.
Although he had seen it ever since 1999, Vice Prescient Bharrat Jagdeo came out to criticise it. He was the Opposition Leader then. In his criticism he announced that he would revisit the contract. He has had the chance to revisit the contract for the past three years. Instead, he has said when cornered that he will not revisit the contract.
One can only imagine that the oil contract would have remained a secret and all the talk going on at this time would not have been heard. But that is not the only secret. The gas to shore project is also shrouded in secrecy. The nation knows that the gas pipeline would land at Wales, West Bank Demerara. The budgetary vote on the project for this year is somewhere in the vicinity of $43 billion. And that is excluding so many factors.
Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul has tabled a motion in the National Assembly seeking full disclosure of the project.
The motion reads: WHEREAS, the Government of Guyana and Exxon Mobil are partnering to construct the Wales Gas-to-Energy Project;
AND WHEREAS, the Guyanese taxpayers in 2022 invested $24,613,000,000 and in 2023 the National Assembly of Guyana approved G$43,300,000,000;
AND WHEREAS, this National Assembly is yet to be provided with the Final Investment Plan.
AND WHEREAS, the Government of Guyana signed a Heads of Agreement with the Stabroek Block co-venturers, ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC on June 30, 2022
BE IT RESOLVED, that this National Assembly instructs the Minister of Natural Resources to forthwith lay over to the National Assembly all documents relating to the construction of the Wales Gas-to-Energy Project and the Heads of Agreement signed on June 30, 2022.
Will this motion be heard? The Speaker of the National Assembly is known to favour the government. He has been known to deny even motions submitted as matters of public interest.
One of them had to do with a flood that had struck Guyana. The Speaker said that it was not urgent. So, this motion that seeks full disclosure of the gas to shore project may be deemed not to be in the interest of the public. But what is clear, it is going to cost billions of dollars more than the plan the coalition government had put in place.
There are other secrets. We do not know how much money we pay each year to China for the US$200 million we borrowed to build the Skeldon sugar factory. That factory began to take shape at the same time the United States Embassy in Georgetown was being opened. Jagdeo told the nation that the production cost of sugar would drop from the US32 cents per pound to US 12 cents per pound. Needless to say, the nation was excited. When the factory went into operation the nation suddenly found that it was using more cane than any other estate to produce a tonne of sugar. It was not productive. In fact, from the inception it became a drain on the nation.
As fate would have it, good sense prevailed and Skeldon was shelved. It became the most expensive white elephant in the world. On Monday there were photographs of this much touted US$200 million sugar factory. It was nothing but twisted metal. It had become a scrapheap. The newspaper Village Voice contained some graphic pictures. The nation is unaware of the length of time it would take to repay that loan for a pile of scrap. Indeed, it would be at least thirty years. Many of us alive today would be dead and gone and Guyana would still be paying for something it never used. That money could have gone to feed the hungry school children. Instead, we poured it into sugar where the government supporters are to the exclusion of the rest of society.
Minister Zulfikar Mustapha talks about the community. Because of GuySuCo, whether it makes a profit or not. The fall out is that families are eating and those who sell can capitalize on the sugar workers. The factory is secondary.
Guyana poured another US$100 million on the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project. That too is a non-starter. $60 billion Guyana dollars just went to dust. And people are hungry.
And then there is this talk about One Guyana. A staunch PPP member slipped a sheet of paper to a media practitioner to show what One Guyana really is. The list shows that with the exception of the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, every other agency is headed by people who are not of African ancestry. The GPHC and its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Go-Invest, EITI; the Chief Education Officer; Maritime Administration, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the state-owned media, GuySuCo and the list goes on.
