Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 11, 2018 News
– T&T Opposition Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar
By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
Trinidad and Tobago has found itself in such a vulnerable position that its leaders are now regretting the decisions made which led to the island having to cope with the bleak reality before it.
It seems to be the consensus that, at this point, finding a way out for Trinidad is no easy task. And if Guyana is not careful, it will attract a similar fate.
Former Prime Minister of the twin-island republic, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said as much as recently when she delivered the feature address at the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) dinner and award ceremony.
Persad-Bissessar told those at the event that she was somewhat embarrassed to speak to Guyana on the topic “Managing Oil and Gas Revenues – experiences and lessons learned from Trinidad and Tobago”. She said that this was so because, as it now seems, Trinidad made some very bad decisions along the way.
The Trinidad Opposition Leader said, “This is apparent in the position in which we now find ourselves – a high energy consumer now made even more vulnerable in a volatile sector, tethered to the vagaries of international superpowers that will now control our energy requirements and outputs.”
Persad-Bissessar said, “I am hopeful and fairly certain that this is one path that Guyana should never find itself on. Guyana should, above all other things, especially having been an importer of energy for so long, work towards ensuring its Energy Security and Energy Independence. These are critical to a country’s success and indeed future.”
DO NOT GO BACK TO SLAVERY
The former Prime Minister said that it is imperative for Guyana to keep its eye out for subtle forms of takeover that will, over time, become less subtle.
She said, “You need to have robust legislation to protect your country’s patrimony but at the same time, it must not be so filled up with endless red tape and bureaucracy that will drive away investors.”
“Also, you need a framework to ensure multinationals contribute adequately to the development of Guyana even as they invest and benefit. You need this legislation so you don’t end up being purely exploited.
“You don’t want to end up in a different kind of slavery. You don’t want to end up in a situation where they are just taking your natural resource and selling it back to you.”
Persad-Bissessar then said something that further hits home to how similar Guyana and Trinidad are. Both countries once had thriving sugar industries.
“Remember when we were about sugar, where sugar was king. They used to call us King Sugar, but what happened? They took the sugar from us when we were colonized, manufactured it and even our chocolate they took and then sold it back to us. Please, don’t let this happen with your oil and gas.”
The former T&T Prime Minister said that much emphasis must be placed on local content in order for Guyana to guard against this, “different kind of slavery” about which she spoke.
She said, “Yes, you need the foreign investors but remember your local content needs; that is very important. Don’t let this (different slavery) happen again.”
She said that having only foreign players in the industry is never a good play.
“When we started the oil and gas sector, everything was foreign-owned. Now TT is going back to that because that is what the government is saying. We are going to pull the crude out, and then we are going to export it and what are we going to do?
“We are now going to buy the things that we were producing, like lubricants and fuels. Please, don’t let that happen to you. Get involved in the downstream activities of oil and gas, set up your own local manufacturing for the oil sector and continue the other aspects of oil and gas.”
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