Dear Editor,
In 2019 the Granger administration engaged IHSM to do the cost recovery audit and announced the firm would be assisted by various local agencies, mainly the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in making its report as a capacity-building exercise as explained by GRA’s Godfrey Statia “Guyanese representatives were expected to shadow and understudy the IHSM experts during the course of the Audit to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and technical ‘know-how’ “. IHSM presented its first report in 2020 and it has since ping-ponged between the GRA, IHSM, The Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Esso Exploration and Production Limited (EEPGL). The GRA is not yet unsatisfied that a final report can be made.
It is against this background that tremendous mistrust exists and as questions swirl so do dark thoughts and suspicions, after all, the oil majors have been involved in countless corruption scandals in every part of the world. 214M USD in questioned costs is enough to justify public mistrust and for keen oversight of all officials involved in any dealings with oil companies.
The Irfaan Ali administration has not interfered with the work of IHSM or GRA, nor have they asked for any shortcuts in the process. The Ministry of Natural Resources has from time to time asked for updates and has always relied on the advice of GRA Commissioner General Statia. The administration understands that for costs to be disallowed the process must be methodical and players never hurried which can lead to missteps; the money is not going anywhere, when the accounting is all agreed upon it will easily be moved from one ledger column to another.
Godfrey Statia and the GRA have performed admirably on the audit and have exceeded expectations on the learning curve; there are shortcomings however, it is obvious that GRA is understaffed/unqualified/underpaid for what is tasked and for what is yet to come.
The Ali administration may have to rely on PPP founder Cheddi Jagan’s philosophy on ‘super salaries’ to attract and retain the quality required. If there is a black mark for Statia, it must be his reprimand of the press for the release of information contained in the IHSM report; transparency and light are a much better policy and it may behoove the Commissioner General to issue updates on audits on a regulated schedule.
Editor, oil is our proverbial camel, and audits are our rope; we cannot rely on single audit entities however great the reputation to secure Guyanese interests, we are building the capacity to oversee and must invest in this area as a matter of urgency. All of the Government, top to bottom, should understand that Guyanese are short on trust and require light and transparency to be comfortable with the oil companies and revenues; time to double up those knots and let us all sleep a bit easier.
Sincerely
Robin Singh