Former President Donald Ramotar told Globespan, in an interview, Guyana should renegotiate the oil contract with ExxonMobil. Ramotar said he is “one of the persons who believes that the contract is a very bad contract…that deprives us of a lot of resources.” It is his opinion, it is better for Guyanese to fight to renegotiate the contract than not fight at all.
President Irfaan Ali has since lashed out at Ramotar in a manner, veteran trade unionist, Lincoln Lewis, said is “naïve, deceptive, unnecessary and shows lack of knowledge of negotiation.” And whilst the president has made it clear, once again, his government is not inclined to revisit the contract with ExxonMobil, Lewis said we should not accept such thinking because it has dire consequences, particularly for bad decision-making and every-day governance.
The trade unionist told Village Voice News no contract is written in stone; it is an agreement between parties and as circumstances change, the parties can return to the table in good faith to address the development. Lewis, who is General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) said it is important to note “the existing contract was arrived at through negotiations, not a unilateral decision, and parties can return to the table to examine it based on the development.”
However, Ali expressed the view that should Guyana renegotiate the contract the country could lose investor confidence. Lewis disagrees. He said Ali should have acquainted himself with the history of Guyana, particularly the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) regime. Asked to explain what he means; the trade unionist cited the 1999 public sector unions strike.
Lewis recounted in 1999, the Government resisted paying increased wages/salaries to public servants on the ground that Guyana had an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the Inter American Development Bank, known as the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), not to pay wages and salaries beyond a certain level. This led to the public sector strike, he said, and end with the establishment of an Arbitration Tribunal ,headed by Dr. Aubrey Armstrong. Coming out from the Award, Lewis said, was significant increases, after which the Government of Guyana brought back the IFIs to the table and renegotiated the previous agreement. “There is precedence in the society,” he said.
In a speech last Friday at the Guyana-Canada Chamber of Commerce Maple Leaf Ball, Ali, clearly going after Ramotar said: “How will you build confidence in the system when you have the sophisticated investor looking on from the outside and say ‘who are these guys? You can’t depend on them.”
Lewis said Ali’s statement ought to raise further concern where his commitment and loyalty lie because he seems more interested in protecting the international community than the people of Guyana, who he has a primary obligation to ensure get a fair deal from the country’s resources and that these can be equitably distributed in society.
Lewis also expressed concern about the discriminatory management of the nation, which he said is exacerbating racial and political tensions and widening the gap between the rich and poor. According to him, no citizen should be excluded from the oil and gas wealth and other resources of the nation.
Returning to the possibility of re-negotiating the contract, Lewis said he would like to see the parties returning to the table. “Both Government and Opposition have an obligation to listen to the people. The people are calling for a review of the contract.” To this end he proposed national consultation where stakeholders and individuals can have a say, which he said the PPP seems not to have an interest in, though for the 2020 Election the party campaign was premised on renegotiating the oil contract.
His other proposal is for parliamentary determination, after consultation with society, one based on passage by a simple majority but consensus among the parliamentary groups and representatives. Asked why it should not be a simple majority decision, the trade unionist said, “it is too big an issue to this nation for elected representatives to allow the Executive to give directive without their involvement and consent.”
The Opposition, notably the Alliance For Change, has called for a renegotiation of the oil contract.
