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.