-says they are converts to `new religion of sanctity of contract’
While taking aim at the entire political leadership, analyst Christopher Ram has singled out President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo for failure to renegotiate the lopsided 2016 ExxonMobil deal and he said the two are now converts to a new religion `sanctity of contract’.
In the 150th instalment of his oil and gas column in the December 31st Stabroek News, Ram recounted how the two PPP leaders had signalled while in opposition that the oppressive deal would be revisited but had now surprisingly changed their tune.
He said that Ali’s and Jagdeo’s transformation from fierce critics of the 2016 Agreement while in opposition to its most ardent defenders in government represents more than mere political expedience.
“… it strikes at the heart of decency, accountability and the nation’s sovereignty that our founding leaders fought so hard to establish and preserve”, he argued.
The same voices that denounced the 2016 Agreement now defend its every Article and the legal minds that found constitutional heresy in the stability clause now justify the effective suspension of Parliament’s authority until 2057, he declared.
In its 2020 manifesto and speeches during the campaign, Ram said that the PPP argued for and committed to renegotiation. He said that Ali and Jagdeo condemned the Agreement’s terms as unconscionable and built expectations of better royalty rates, explicitly introducing ring-fencing provisions and removing the tax arrangements requiring Guyana to pay ExxonMobil’s taxes.
“When in power, that commitment conveniently evaporated. First, President Ali and VP Jagdeo converted to a new religion – the sanctity of contract, which they embraced for nearly four years. As that faith was exposed as false religions do, they now claim that they have kept their promise and passed a new Petroleum Activities Act. Guyanese know the meaning of `renegotiate’ and that the new Act does not affect pre-existing Agreements.
“VP and oil czar Jagdeo struggles to rewrite his bold statements about renegotiation and now engages in all kinds of prevarication. When in opposition, he specifically cited the discovery of 3 billion barrels in the Stabroek Block as justification for renegotiating the 2016 Agreement. Now, with discoveries exceeding 11 billion barrels, he claims his words meant something entirely different. Guyanese may be naive and even gullible, polite and non-confrontational, but stupid. No. They know what they saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. They know how to distinguish equivocation and obfuscation from what they saw and heard”, Ram declared.
By his refusal to establish an independent Petroleum Commission, Ram charged that the President has ceded to the Vice President exclusive and unquestioned authority over all decisions concerning the petroleum sector.
“In doing so, his once imaginative and insightful motto of One Guyana is fast evolving into EXX-ONe GUYANA”, Ram asserted.
He said that the pattern of betrayal goes beyond mere policy reversal.
“The government has become ExxonMobil’s most reliable defender, ignoring or dismissing those who dare question the company’s incorrect accounting, made-up cost recovery claims and unsupervised operations. They resist meaningful environmental oversight and delay promised sector reforms, including establishing a Petroleum Commission, again publicly committed to by Ali and Jagdeo, or holding a Commission of Inquiry into the Agreement’s negotiation” despite former Minister Raphael Trotman’s willingness to testify, he said.
He added that their resistance to investigation suggests they fear what might be revealed about the previous administration’s actions and perhaps their own role in maintaining these arrangements. He pointed out that in his book `From Destiny to Prosperity,’ Trotman, then Natural Resources Minister, had said that Jagdeo, as Leader of the Opposition, had secretly agreed with the APNU + AFC Government not to oppose the Legislative Order granting the ultra-generous tax measures in the 2016 Agreement.
Ram then turned his sights on the opposition.
“And where does the current Opposition fit into all of this? The APNU+AFC coalition’s failure to hold the government accountable compounds this betrayal of trust. Having been part of the government that signed the original agreement, it now appears paralysed by its role. Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s lack of knowledge and interest in this crucial issue is extremely disturbing. His failure to articulate any coherent position on renegotiation, inability to effectively challenge the government’s reversals, and apparent disinterest in the technical details of oil governance suggest a profound lack of understanding or a deliberate abdication of responsibility”, Ram posited.
The chartered accountant and lawyer lamented that the surrender of parliamentary sovereignty through the stability clause until 2057 represents a constitutional crisis unprecedented in resource agreements globally.
“Our founding fathers fought for permanent sovereignty over our natural resources and parliamentary supremacy. Their successors have traded both for a mess of pottage”, Ram thundered.
He said that elections 2025 offers the people the opportunity to respond.
“Will they support any political party that sells out their birthright? Or will they reject them for any party committed to renegotiation? The year 2025 will provide the answer”, he said.