Commentator Christopher Ram has flayed the government and opposition for abdicating their responsibilities to the country to ensure a better deal with ExxonMobil, a circumstance he described as the surrender of the country’s sovereignty.
In the 136th instalment of his oil and gas column in Stabroek News, Ram yesterday said that in the preceding three weeks he had set out how the governing PPP/C had reversed its pre-election promise to review and renegotiate the 2016 Petroleum Agreement.
“But it actually did worse – reversed its commitment to an independent Petroleum Commission, failed to provide elementary conditions on ringfencing, and is one of the minority of countries refusing to sign the OECD Framework on a minimum corporate tax on major companies”, he said.
As the country gears up for general and regional elections in 2025, he said that thoughts should turn on whether the PPP/C will pay a political price.
“They should but that is unlikely because none of the political parties is any better”, Ram declared.
He said that the silence of the PNCR, the AFC, ANUG and the WPA on pivotal oil matters is not only disappointing and deafening but amounts to a collective surrender of sovereignty by the entire political establishment.
“The PPP’s dramatic shift from promising to `review and renegotiate’ to now parroting `sanctity of contract’ is like a stab in the back of our country. This phrase has become their shield, a convenient excuse for inaction, a dereliction of duty and a betrayal of the national interest. But let us be clear: there is no sanctity in an agreement that fails to protect the interests of the Guyanese people. The only thing sacred should be our nation’s right to benefit fully from its natural resources”, he charged.
Ram, an attorney and chartered accountant, said that the misplaced reverence for a flawed contract is not just misguided – “it’s a dangerous ceding of our national sovereignty. By treating the 2016 Agreement as untouchable, our leaders have effectively handed over control of our resources to foreign corporations. They have prioritised the interests of ExxonMobil and its partners over the wellbeing of the Guyanese people”.
He argued that the stability clause in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement represents a surrender of the state’s right to adapt laws and regulations to changing circumstances and national needs.
“This seems more like subjugation rather than sanctity. It ignores the fundamental principle of fairness in international law. After all, the petroleum world is replete with cases in which countries have successfully renegotiated oil contracts when circumstances have changed, or when the original terms were found to be against their national interest. Our leaders’ failure to even consider this option is a dereliction of their duty to protect Guyana’s interests”, he lamented.
The PPP/C’s reversal in position in no way exonerates the PNCR whose leader he said “has literally been all over the place when it comes to taking a position”.
Bankrupt
“The Party seems bankrupt of ideas, bankrupt of expertise and bankrupt of courage in what is clearly the most important issue facing the country now and for the next thirty years. Their current leader’s apparent ignorance of the agreement’s details is an indictment of the Party’s fitness to govern. Such willful ignorance is not just embarrassing; it’s a dangerous abdication of their role as the opposition, failing to provide the necessary checks and balances our democracy requires”, Ram declared.
He said that the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), once a party of principled struggle, has been reduced to debating how to distribute crumbs while the nation’s wealth is carried offshore.
“Their myopic focus on cash transfers without addressing the fundamental inequities of the agreement is a betrayal of their revolutionary heritage and a sad spectacle of a party that once fought for true independence now acquiescing to what amounts to modern-day economic colonialism”, stated Ram.
The Alliance For Change’s (AFC) claim of studying the issue without producing any tangible output is political procrastination at its worst, he argued.
“While the signature of its General Secretary Raphael Trotman brought the illegal Agreement into force, he has written a book calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the Agreement, implicitly suggesting that there are good grounds for serious concern. The Party seems hamstrung by the election as its Leader Mr. Nigel Hughes who is in another role, the Attorney-at-Law for all three of the contractors – Exxon, Hess and CNOOC. Hughes has made it clear that he has no intention to give up his professional relationship, adding that he would not seek to influence the Party’s position. While barely acceptable, it is surely unfortunate that the Leader is unable to lead in such in critical sector of the economy”, Ram said.
The other Party of some note is A New and United Guyana, also led by an attorney-at-law but which has been the most silent of all, Ram contended.
“This collective failure to challenge the 2016 Agreement is a de facto endorsement of the surrender of our sovereignty. By their silence and inaction, every major political party in Guyana has become complicit in this grand ceding of our national rights and resources. They have collectively failed to uphold the fundamental principle that a government’s primary duty is to protect the country’s resources and to advance the interests of its citizens. The citizens are faced with not a single party providing leadership, guidance, opportunities for debate or any other form of assistance, information or direction on our oil economy and our Government’s subservient role in the sector”, Ram asserted.
