Dear Editor,
Christopher Ram will certainly give the Guyanese readers a very clear insight from a commercial angle ‒ given his financial expertise ‒ of the workings of the petroleum industry, but I would not have the same confidence in his legal advice (‘Oil and gas – The New Economic Horizon’ SN, May 26). For the legal aspect of the industry, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, our first Attorney General and the most reputable one the country has ever seen, is the best we have on civil litigation. He is very much alive, willing and able to give his country any legal advice and propose legislation that will protect us from the transnational companies ‒ ExxonMobil and others ‒ which are set to exploit us. Dr Jagan was correct when he stated the following, which Mr Ram quoted:
“Dr Cheddi Jagan led his party to rail against the [Petroleum] Bill, as the embodiment of capitulation to the capitalists, giving them a ‘blank cheque’, and ‘putting our country’s independence and its energy policies in the hands of the transnationals.’ Yet, as so often happens, history demonstrated ironies and contradictions and it was the PPP Government that later signed a number of agreements with international oil companies which Guyanese are now criticising as being too generous.”
The Jagdeoite elements in the PPP, including Donald Ramotar and Clement Rohee, sold out Jagan and the PPP legacy without a proper receipt. They have given socialism and socialists in Guyana a very bad name, as their cousins in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have done. Raphael Trotman, the radical liberal and now energy Czar, is making Guyanese believe that he will put things right, allaying fears that the people will not be robbed of their birthright. But very few believe Mr Trotman.
Members inside the Alliance For Change say it will be worse when it comes to the multi-trillion dollar oil industry that is supposed to drastically improve the livelihood of everyone, including the lowly paid police and security forces.
National Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan paints a very rosy picture, given the small population and large oil find. But from all the talk and the hustle and bustle by government officials and the businessmen and women who are lined up with their foreign experts ‒ the ones Dr Jagan referred to in his parliamentary speech, and which Mr Ram alluded to in his article ‒ there seems to be no tangible outcome that will reassure Guyanese that we will not be exploited by foreign and local companies. As Guyana moves to first oil – that long dreamt-of event with the possibility of transforming our country – it is hoped that Christopher Ram’s column will contribute to a better understanding of the vast opportunities and the unobtrusive pitfalls that await us.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Rahman
