Should VP Jagdeo be fired?

Sep 21, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – On matters of oil in general, and the political management of this precious patrimony of the people, we at this publication rarely find common ground with the Opposition APNU (or the AFC).

On APNU’s call for the removal of Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, there is the fullest agreement. Long before this US$214 million ExxonMobil audit fiasco, we have been calling for the President to fire Jagdeo over other failures that have hurt this country.

Focusing on the US$214 million audit developments alone, Jagdeo’s public positions do not add up, only thicken the mysteries and darkness existing before. It was Jagdeo himself who shared audit finding numbers that went from US$214 million to US$11 million, and then to the rock bottom of US$3 million in findings. Considering that last US$3 million figure, it was the equivalent of there being no finding by IHS Markit and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) at all. Also, both the government and the Vice President indicated that missing documentation was provided by ExxonMobil, which effectively reversed some of the audit findings. Since the supporting documents were supplied, then that should have been that, once they were accepted, which is what Guyanese were led to believe. The fact is it did not turn out to be so, with the usual Jagdeo surfacing.

So, there was the precipitous drop from US$214 million to US$11 million, followed by the shorter fall from US$11 million to US$3 million, and all as pronounced upon by Jagdeo himself. Yet, Guyanese are now left to grapple with this late breaking cock and bull story of the PPP/C Government apparently settling for a final audit difference/finding of US$107 million as acceptable. The first question is what happened to the US$11 million and afterwards US$3 million?  The second is that since supporting documentary proofs of ExxonMobil’s spending relative to the US$1.6 billion precontract costs were submitted by the company (and found acceptable), then how is it that there is baffling new final audit number of US$107 million, as being satisfactory to close out this dirty audit episode?  What is the basis of that US$107 million?  Was that plucked out of Jagdeo’s head?

Like almost everything with Jagdeo, this is just one more merry go round, and how he backs himself into a corner.  On the dizzying array of audit numbers, ranging from US$214 million down to US$3 million, then upwards to US$107 million, was he misinformed?  Or did he speak out of turn?  Or was he too close to the process behind the scenes, while pretending in public that both he and the government were keeping a safe distance, so that the GRA could perform its sensitive duties unfettered, unpressured, and uninterrupted?

The way we look at this is simple.  If missing supporting paperwork led to the US$214 million audit findings, and it was supplied in good form, then the appropriate adjustments follow, and the matter is closed at whatever number is finalised. Except that this is not the case, with controversy and contortions, if not too much political cleverness, dominating the proceedings, and leaving openminded, clearheaded Guyanese with serious misgivings.

In all this, the Vice President takes on a dull and disturbing sheen.  How much can he be believed?  How much trust should be given to manage this oil?  Oil stewards have been disgraced for less, so he should go his way on his own.  If Jagdeo had any speck of self-respect left, he should resign. Since that is extremely doubtful, he should be fired and put out of his entanglements and misery.  But that is not all, for out of nowhere, and as if to put a patch on a pathetic state of affairs with this audit, there was Jagdeo coming up with this latest tricky stroke about “unauthorized” actions by ministry personnel. Obviously, Jagdeo has been caught with his pants down, and looks to pass the blame to others, as is his practice. This claim of “unauthorised” actions only makes him look frantic, and not the man to be in charge of this oil.  He should be fired to give Guyanese a clean shot at managing their oil wealth.  A tangled web has been weaved to deceive, and it entangles its maker(s).

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