Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 06, 2021 News
…Pres. Ali living in ‘dreamland,’ many options available for independent scrutiny
Kaieteur News – Transparency International Guyana Inc. (TIGI), has lambasted Head of State, President Irfaan Ali, over his recent assertion that the Administration will rely on ExxonMobil’s US$50M fibre-optic cable—being laid to connect its onshore and offshore activities—for real time information on production, to say there currently exists a plethora of alternatives to independently monitor the operations.
TIGI’s Alfred Bhulai, in a recent public missive fired back at President’s Ali’s assertion of his administration’s transparency in the management of the oil sector.
Prefacing his arguments, Bhulai in his letter recalled that President Ali told a virtual press conference on Monday last, when asked about the lack of transparency and information on the sector, “We are working now on a website that will have all the production details; that will have all the revenue details… that will have all the expenditure details. We are presently putting that system and institution in place.”
President Ali had said, in response to questions from Kaieteur News’ Kiana Wilburg, “I do not believe that we have been hiding anything as it relates to the oil and gas sector, … every piece of information that the government has, every discussion we have had… has been made public and shared with the public.”
The TIGI Executive in response stated that, “If he (President Ali) genuinely believes what he said, why did his MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) not tell TIGI that the fibre-optic cable and internet had to be set up before the information that was requested months ago could be given.”
Bhulai in his missive observed that on Sunday, “we read that Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, said that government has nothing to hide and will be transparent in all oil and gas-related matters, and that he has suggested that the Ministry of Natural Resources set up a portal for the publishing of real-time information, but that initiative has not been taken up and it is unclear how the media would be able to access the information.”
He used the occasion to note that subsequently “…we heard that currently ExxonMobil is forging ahead with the laying of a US$50M fibre optic cable under its ‘Fibre Optic Enablement Project’ where it plans to connect the onshore and offshore operations so that there can be real-time oversight, and that the Minister of Legal Affairs said that the government will also be given a feed and it will also be able to independently monitor works.”
Adamant government does not require a fibre-optic cable to give the information requested, Bhulai contends that “between 2012 and 2014, I engineered, installed, and commissioned meters to read electricity and other interesting variables in real time remotely over the internet so that I did not have to physically visit to monitor energy in the industries I advised.”
According to the TIGI executive, “one of my associates saw such a meter installed at the (ExxonMobil funded) Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) of Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).”
As such, he was adamant “the oil companies are very much aware of how to monitor and transmit the information, even if the politicians, the advisors they surround themselves with, and the EPA do not.”
He observed that the internet supported the necessary transmission of the data.
“It is not molecular biology or rocket science, because many Guyanese householders, who have installed security cameras, can, from anywhere in the world where there is internet, see on their cell phones what their home cameras are seeing. The President had better check if his security knows about this version of the internet of things.”
Offering his services to the administration, Bhulai suggests, “…should our leaders wish more of the clarity they professed to lack about how the media can access such information, they have only to ask… TIGI has teachers, who have lived for decades on the Guyanese teachers’ pay scales, and who can teach them about Open Data, Open Contracting, and Open Government, where citizens live more satisfactorily with opportunities more according to their abilities, and less according to who they know.”
According to Bhulai, “the oil companies can run and monitor their operations continuously with computers and internet from satellite. In addition, when they do eventually put in the fibre-optic cable, we will expect even better data. Let them not make more fools of us.”
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
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