A novelty
From the look of things, almost everyone in Guyana is preoccupied with the events in the emerging oil and gas industry in the country. Sitting on the favourable side of oil and gas is a novelty for a country like Guyana which has endured some of the most damaging effects of being an oil-deficit country. Blackouts, damaged household equipment, frustratingly high gas prices and import taxes on motor vehicles, restricted consumer choices and uncompetitive cost structures have conspired to constrain the ambitions of a free-thinking and pioneering Guyanese people for years. It possibly even triggered detestable survival instincts which sullied the image of the nation. Therefore, it is easy to understand the excitement being induced by the emerging industry and the positioning for influence that is taking place therein. Divergent opinions about oil’s impact on governance and accountability are emerging also with different entities staking a claim as advocate or soothsayer with the correct viewpoint of the future industry and its risks for the Public Treasury. But, the emergence of oil and gas on the horizon brings