Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2022 News
Kaieteur News – Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton is once again accusing the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic of not acting in the best interest of Guyanese when it comes to the management of the vast oil resources.
During a People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) press conference held on Tuesday, Norton underscored the need for a leadership that is reflective of the massive transformation that huge oil finds is expected to have on the country. He noted that Exxon’s own projections show Guyana moving from 120,000 barrels of oil per day in 2020 to a minimum of 800,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025. “This represents an increase of over 550% in only a few years! Within a few short years of oil production Guyana’s growth will have doubled. The problem, however, is that the PPP is preventing these resources from meeting our people,” Norton asserted.
As such, Norton said “the time has come, Guyana needs honest, bold, optimistic, and transformational leadership…The PPP is hell bent on using Guyana’s oil resources to benefit a few. The PNCR commits itself to serving the interests of the people of Guyana.” “In contrast to the despair and defeatism from Jadgeo and the PPP,” Norton said that “the PNCR IS convinced that Guyana’s current and projected oil wealth – once well-managed can be used to fund a holistic people-centered development strategy.”
According to Norton, the PNCR is focused on the adoption of a development strategy that is people-centered—one that emphasizes the equal treatment of all Guyanese, equity, jobs that pay living wages; opportunities for self-empowerment and wealth creation; comprehensive social protection; and the enrichment of our human resources through education, health, and the creation of a peace of mind and sense of well-being in people.
He stressed that the three most recent oil finds by Exxon have taken reserves to 11 billion barrels in the Stabroek Block alone. The PNCR leader explained that “A Google search will show that Guyana currently has more barrels of oil per person than Saudi Arabia. And we know that living standards in Saudi Arabia have been high for the longest while. Any political party that attempts to paint a gloomy picture, as is being done by the PPP, of our exceptional good fortune is, at best, not acquainted with reality or, at worst, is uncaring about improving the quality of life of its citizens. The latter is more likely the explanation.”
He opined that the business of any proper government is to ensure people can live decently and happily. The Opposition Leader went on to state that apart from being a moral obligation, this goal is enshrined in national constitutions (such as in Guyana’s) and in international conventions on social and economic rights of people, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (to which Guyana is a signatory).
“A proper government would ensure that it can achieve this goal as quickly, as effectively, and as sustainably as possible. Were the PPP a people’s government this would have been seen as the opportunity to put the Guyanese people first and guarantee them a high quality of life or, in more concrete terms, to end poverty and to expand and lift the middle class, Norton added.
He pointed out that little more needs to be added to our intention to manage the economy to diminish the diversion of the people’s patrimony through corruption, cronyism, and waste.
“With robust and independent oversight, accountability and transparency systems, significant sums of money can be saved – money that can be spent to benefit the masses…We in the PNCR will not enter into secret deals at the expense of the property rights and earning opportunities of citizens. We will not treat our national patrimony as party or personal assets,” he vowed.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
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