Oil & Gas
Exxon insurance contract sets US$500m limit for any one incident: The Government has published a contract of insurance for ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) which will raise further questions about coverage for a potential oil spill and other matters. The Official Gazette of May 11th 2024 made public the policy that ExxonMobil has with United Kingdom Insurance company Aon under policy number: ENOFC2400258 which is for the period February 1st of this year to February 19th 2025, and points out that the policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England & Wales. The policy makes clear that the limit is “USD 100,000,000 (for) any one accident or occurrence in respect of third party liability” and “USD 500,000,000 any one accident or occurrence in respect of operators extra expense”. It is unclear if this is an adjunct to a court-ordered US$2b guarantee from EMGL or the US$2b guarantee itself. The insurance policy agreement can be accessed at the following link: (https://officialgazette.gov.gy/images/gazette2024/may/Extra_11MAY2024NotiContr.pdf) The publishing of the contract comes amid an ongoing case where environmentalists and others have argued that ExxonMobil and its partners should be held to unlimited insurance coverage. This position was upheld by Justice Sandil Kissoon in a historic ruling which has since been appealed by Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency. In the decision on May 3rd 2023, Justice Kissoon had ordered the EPA to obtain from ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, environmental liability insurance as is customary in the petroleum industry along with an unlimited parent company guarantee to cover all costs of an oil spill, in accordance with the environmental permit issued to ExxonMobil Guyana Ltd. Both the EPA and Exxon Guyana appealed the decision.
Politics
‘Permanent Secretaries can belong to political parties’ – Jagdeo: Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo recently asserted that Permanent Secretaries (PS) can be members of political parties. Jagdeo’s position comes against the backdrop of concerns raised about the presence of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Shannielle Hoosein-Outar who was seen clad in a red outfit at the recently-held People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Congress. Jagdeo made it clear yesterday that the PS is indeed a member of the party and that is her democratic right. Although Permanent Secretaries are appointed by the President, there have been lingering concerns that the PPP/C ad-ministration’s appointees are not career public servants but instead, party members who were parachuted into the position of Permanent Secretary. “First of all let me make it clear that Permanent Secretaries are political appointees. They are appointed by the President of the country not the Public Service Commis-sion. The Public Service Commission appoints civil servants. Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are appointed by the President of the country. That is in the constitution of Guyana, we didn’t put that there,” Jagdeo said, as he condemned the Stabroek News’ May 13 Editorial – “Permanent Secretaries”. He went on, “Secondly, people are free to practice… they are free to belong to a political party and not be discriminated against. That’s the freedom that we fight for. The freedom to freely express yourself, freedom of association that we have always fought for.” While Permanent Secretaries are political appointees they are not expected to be members of political parties but career civil servants. The editorial had pointed to attorney-at-law Darren Wade’s Facebook query about the presence of Hoosein-Outar at the just concluded PPP Congress.
Health
Doctor struck from medical register for malpractice: The Medical Council of Guyana (MCG) yesterday said that Dr Anil Solomon has been removed from the register of medical practitioners in Guyana following a finding of professional misconduct and malpractice. A public notice in May 16th Stabroek News signed by the Chairman of the MCG, Dr Navindranauth Rambaran said that Dr Solomon is not permitted to practice medicine in any capacity in Guyana. The notice was issued in accordance with Section 17 (3) ( c) of the Medical Practitioners Act. The notice also announced the suspension for four months of Dr Abdulla Amin after a finding of malpractice. Dr Amin is not permitted to practice medicine between May 6th 2024 and September 6th 2024. His suspension is in accordance with Section 17(3)(b) of the Medical Practitioners Act.
Crime
Dharamlall released on $500,000 bail: Former Local Government Minister, Nigel Dharamlall, who turned himself in to police at the Cove and John station last Wednesday following a rape complaint was later released on $500,000 bail. This was disclosed by his attorney Bernard Da Silva. Da Silva who accompanied him to the station, told reporters that Dharamlall was invited to the station. Da Silva explained that his client is denying the allegations of sexual assault made against him. “He is cooperating with the police. I have had the privilege of turning him in. He just conducted an interview of which he denied all the allegations and the police will have to take it from there.” Da Silva left the Cove and John Police station shortly after the interview was conducted and stated that Dharamall was being processed as he remains in police custody. He was later released on $500,000 bail. “I have full confidence in the police to do their work. I do not want to interfere and therefore I do not want to remain with him. I have given him instructions and he is mature enough to follow my instructions,” Da Silva explained. Dharamlall was invited to the Cove and John Police Sation following an allegation made against him by Sarah Hakh. The Guyana Police Force confirmed that consequent to the sexual assault allegations levelled against Dharamlall, he turned himself in at 9.20 am. Last Monday, Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum had noted that the allegations are “serious” and are under investigation. “Relative to questions from the media regarding the sexual assault allegations against former minister Nigel Dharamlall, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum has indicated that a formal report was made by the (complainant) to Police at the Cove and John Police Station. He noted that the allegations are serious and the matter is under active investigation,” the statement said. The statement from the police was posted in the Joint Services/Press Team WhatsApp group days after Hakh, during a virtual press conference, made sexual assault allegations against the former minister and had stated that the police finally took her report after three attempts.
Border controversy
Venezuela’s military build-up near Ankoko continues, full of escalation risks: Following its February 7th report, a US think tank says Venezuela is continuing to build up forces along Guyana’s border and there are risks of escalation with elections approaching in July and even after that. In a piece yesterday entitled `The Essequibo Pressure Cooker: Runaway Nationalism and Maduro’s Compellence Strategy’, the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that even though Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro is highly unlikely to win the election in a fair race, examples are legion of the “rally around the flag” effect during international crises, even if only in the short term and this is what he is doing with country’s claim to Essequibo. In its February 7th piece, CSIS cited the concept of “compellence” where Venezuela is employing a carrot and stick policy to force concessions from Guyana. While the recent escalation over the Essequibo region has not reached the level of kinetic action, CSIS said that the Maduro regime’s rhetoric, which, in part, aims to provide the armed forces a raison d’être, “has likely unleashed a genie that will be difficult to put back in the bottle”. Georgetown has not commented much about Venezuela’s military build-up and an attempt by APNU+AFC MP Amanza Walton-Desir to ask a question in Parliament last week on the matter was shot down by the Speaker Manzoor Madir. The Speaker said that the question violated the Standing Orders. CSIS said yesterday that Maduro and the armed forces have rhetorically committed to defending the newly created region, and the establishment of “Guayana Esequiba” (Essequibo) opens the door to potential illegal settlements, encroachments, or border skirmishes.
Trade
DDL export to T&T flare-up settled amicably: It was not the state of Trinidad that returned a shipment of milk from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) but the importer as he had failed to follow the necessary procedures. The matter was cleared up yesterday in Georgetown. “We had an excellent meeting with the Private Sector Commission [PSC] of Guyana and we discussed a number of items that were of concern to Guyana and we able to resolve these amicably and put in place a process that would help us to deal with any further like circumstance,” Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Trade, Paula Gopee-Scoon, told Stabroek News as she exited the PSC office on Waterloo Street last Wednesday, following the meeting. “The milk being returned was a decision of the importer… not the government of Trinidad and Tobago,” she added. DDL’s Deputy Chief Execu-tive Officer, Vasudeo Singh, also spoke with this newspaper and expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved. For both DDL and the PSC’s part, they agreed with what the minister said as they fleshed out through discussions that the return of milk was due to misunderstandings with the Trinidadian importer who did not first seek all necessary permits. “We had a very good meeting this afternoon. We were better able to lay the issues we had on hand and the way forward is very clear. Like the minister said, the importer didn’t do certain things he was supposed to do, but now that we know the processes they need to follow, we will be able to resolve this matter expeditiously. We are very satisfied with the outcome of the meeting,” Singh said. Asked if the company would be resending milk and is confident it would be accepted, he replied in the affirmative, “Absolutely!” For the PSC and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), the meeting was a positive one. On Tuesday, DDL called on the government and CARICOM to ensure a level playing field for trade following Trinidad’s rejection of two containers of FDA-approved reconstituted milk the company had exported and the placing of a flavoured-water shipment under an onerous import clearance process. The value of the shipment of milk was pegged at around US$100,000.
Industrial
Ministry, GTU trade barbs on conciliation talks: With a third session set for Monday, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) last Wednesday traded accusations over two conciliation meetings this week aimed at resolving the ongoing strike by educators for collective bargaining. The union has accused the ministry of showing no interest in considering its proposals, while the ministry has condemned the union’s actions as a breach of agreement and a display of bad faith. Early yesterday morning, the GTU issued a press release on its Facebook (FB) page where it noted that it had presented a detailed proposal outlining the conditions for resuming duties and commencing conciliation for determining the period for which negotiations are to be taken. The proposal included demands such as an interim 20% across-the-board payment, recusal of the Minister of Labour from the negotiation process, and establishment of an arbitration tribunal if negotiations fail. Further, the union expressed disappointment and concern that the Ministry of Education had not shown interest in negotiating a collective labour agreement or resolving the ongoing strike. “Despite the GTU’s efforts to reach a reasonable compromise, the MoE has remained steadfast in their refusal to negotiate a collective labour agreement for the period 2019-2023, which is the core grievance prompting the strike,” the release said. The Ministry of Educa-tion yesterday responded to the GTU’s release by convening a press conference, where Minister of Education Priya Manickchand condemned the union for violating what she said was a confidentiality agreement. According to Manickchand, the agreement by both parties, was intended to keep the contents of the conciliation meetings private. “Both parties were asked to keep the contents of these ongoing meetings confidential to maintain trust among the parties as well as to show good faith in the conciliation pro-cess,” the minister stated. However, some of these details were provided by the Chief Education Officer (CEO) Saddam Hussain to the Guyana Times whose story appear-ed yesterday before the GTU issued its press release. On Tuesday, after the second day of conciliation meetings between the Ministry of Education, the Guyana Teachers’ Union, and the Ministry of Labour came to a close, this newspaper reached out to CEO Hussain, but he declined to comment. Later that even-ing, however, a reporter from Guyana Times managed to speak with the CEO, who shared some insights about the conciliation meeting in a news item which appeared in yesterday’s edition.
Legislative
Amendment passed to correct anomaly in Constitutional Reform Commission Act: The Constitutional Reform Commission Act was on May 9th amended with unanimous support from the National Assembly to correct an error in the number of members on the Commission from 20 to 21, and it now paves the way for the Commission to begin its work. Attorney General Anil Nandlall said that the amendment “takes effect from the date as it was retroactive [to the date of the Previous Act]”. In November 2022, the Bill was passed with the expectation that the government would move swiftly to begin the constitutional reform process. Some 18 of the 21-member Commission were sworn in last April and they had taken the oath of office which was administered by President Irfaan Ali at the Office of the President. However, it was later discovered that it had an error. “An unfortunate error was belatedly discovered in the Constitutional Reform Act. Section 3 of the Act speaks to the 20-member commission but another part of the Act authorizes the President to appoint a Chairman, in the exercise of his deliberate judgment and from outside of the 20-member Commission. The combination of those two provisions would mean it is a 21-member Commission and not 20,” the Attorney General explained. “As a result, an amendment was moved and unanimously supported by the opposition to change … 20 to 21 in Section 3 of Act,” he added. The opposition supported the government, and allowed for the full amendment to be passed in all its stages at that one sitting, on May 10th. .
Electricity
Power ship supplying 18 MW to grid – GPL: GPL recently announced that the power ship moored off of Everton in the Berbice River is supplying 18 MW to the electricity grid and will incrementally move to 36 MW during the coming week. In a deal brokered by a Qatari company, the ship arrived from Cuba last week and the hook-up to the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) was done over the last few days. Faced with a shortfall in power generation, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) scrambled to find power urgently even after hooking up second-hand generators that arrived from Honduras last year. GPL on April 18 announced the terms of the agreement it signed with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI) to charter the power ship for a period of two years. “The contract includes the provision of operation and maintenance services as part of the agreement…The contract requires GPL to pay UCI a fee of 6.62 US cents per kWh as a monthly charter fee for the powership and a monthly operation and maintenance fee of 0.98 US cents per kWh, based on electricity generated,” GPL had said in a statement as it pointed to the US$1 million mobilisation fee. It is unclear how the mobilisation fee is amortized over the two-year period, into the cost per kWh. On May 1 the power ship arrived in Guyana’s waters. A statement issued by the power company announced that the ship would be connected to GPL’s grid at 69 kV. The government has said that there will be no additional charge to consumers from the ship.
Development
New harbour bridge completion now set for March next year: The new Demerara Harbour Bridge is now projected to be completed at the end of the first quarter of next year instead of December this year, with Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, contending that it was not the fault of the contractor. Work on the bridge is currently around 45% with consultants – Italian company, Polytechnica – reporting that as at April 28, the figure was 43.7%. “The last report, that is as at 28th April was 43.7… Does this percentage match where they are supposed to be? No, it doesn’t. They should have been a little more advanced. The bridge is supposed to be completed by December 31st 2024,” Edghill told the Sunday Stabroek in an interview recently. “We have had some loss in time and that is not as a result of the contractor’s fault, so we can’t penalise the contractor for that. Our revised completion date is March 2025, taking into consideration loss of time and all the rest,” he added. Questioned about the reasons for the delay, he said it ranged from a number of issues but primarily had do to with delayed shipping that saw the company requesting force majeure for those periods lost. “The Panama Canal had low water and they had to go through the Cape Verde route to bring material in. They had what is called force majeure issues and that was calculated as no fault of the contractor,” he explained. He further noted, “There are many things that account for this; the approval of materials by the technical people too. For example, we had to send the consultant and our project people to China to visit the company where some of the materials are being [produced], to ensure the quality [was up to standard]. And when they get the sign off, only then could they procure. So things like that took time.”
Crime
Machine operator stabbed to death by teenagers: A 33-year-old man was on May 11th attacked by three teenage boys and fatally stabbed by one of them while on Commerce Street, Georgetown. Dead is John Williams, a machine operator from Lot 102 Martyr’s Ville, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara. According to police reports, the incident occurred around 21:15 hrs. Williams was walking north on Water Street with a green haversack on his back when he turned onto Commerce Street and was ambushed by the suspects from behind, the police said. The suspects, identified as Daniel Badley, 19; a 14-year-old, and a 15-year-old, were allegedly attempting to steal Williams’s haversack, the release said. When he resisted, one of the suspects stabbed him in the left upper chest with a knife, causing him to collapse on the roadway, it added. Following the attack, the suspects fled the scene in an eastern direction, and then south, but the two youngest were later captured by the police and are in custody. Emergency Medical Technicians were called and Williams was pronounced dead by a doctor. The crime scene unit discovered what appeared to be bloodstains on the victim’s jersey and the ground, the police said.
Tragedy
Five die in horrific Long Creek crash: Five persons died at Long Creek on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway last Monday after a head-on collision involving two cars and four others are in critical condition. The five dead persons were identified as Rushell Leacock-Jones, Graduate Senior Mistress of Kwakwani Primary; her brother, Rehum Leacock also known as Eddo, 24-years-old of Kwakwani who was the driver of one of the vehicles; Dwaylon Farrell, Graduate Head of Department (GHOD) of Industrial Technology at the New Silvercity Secondary, Linden and the driver of the other vehicle; retired nurse, Urani Hall and Clinton Patterson. The police say the accident occurred at 8.20 am. It involved two motor cars, one, a black with registration number PAF 6785 owned and driven by Rehum Leacock and the other, a silver-coloured car with registration number PTT 8159 owned and driven by Farrell, a 42-year-old of Herstelling Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara. Inquiries, police say, disclosed that PTT 8159 was proceeding south along the eastern drive lane while PAF 6785 was proceeding north along the western drive lane both allegedly at a fast rate. As the vehicles were about to pass each other the driver of PAF 6785 reportedly lost control of his vehicle causing it to collide head-on with PTT 8159. This collision caused extensive damage to both cars, and all the occupants were injured. They were taken to the Linden Hospital Complex and were examined by doctors. However, Rehum Leacock, Patterson, Rushell Leacock-Jones and Farrell were pronounced dead on arrival. The other four occupants (Asha Granum, Aubrey Ghanie, Roseann Bumbury, and Ashana Ramsammy) were admitted to the hospital with severe injuries. They were later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital and admitted. Their condition is regarded as critical, the police say. Measurements and statements were taken, and the vehicles have been lodged at the station to be examined by a licensing and certifying officer.
