Latest update February 8th, 2025 5:56 AM
Kaieteur News- Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, Shurwayne Holder, slammed the PPPC Government for its resistance against setting up a Petroleum Commission. It is a good call to highlight the need for a Petroleum Commission, but awareness of the deviousness of the government instills an appreciation about why such a body is a non-starter for leaders of the ruling clique.
Vice President Jagdeo stood for a Petroleum Commission in 2020 at the beginning of the PPPC Government’s tenure. His words are there in black and white, cannot be denied. When he distances from them today, he condemns himself to being a leader who casually abandons commitments, into other things. It is because a Petroleum Commission would threaten his slippery ambitions and plans, the practices now so embedded in the oil sector. But the vice president is not the only government luminary who was for such a vital protective entity. In 2021, Attorney General Nandlall, and Minister Bharrat made promises regarding the preparations for the establishment of the much-awaited Petroleum Commission, that it was going to be soon. Today, nearly five years later, both of them do a poor job feign unconsciousness on such a watchdog agency.
Why is there this sloth on the part of the PPPC Government and its top operators on Guyanese having a Petroleum Commission that would mean so much? What is it that causes them an endless number of anxieties? We think that it is because a Petroleum Commission with credible Guyanese who know how the oil business operates, would put a dent in the oil shenanigans of the PPPC Government. Further, the government and its leaders may have run out of rubberstamps that they would prefer to be in place on a Petroleum Commission, which would hobble its work, render it all but useless. Guyanese have seen that with oversight of the Natural Resource Fund, which has been converted to a government piggy bank, with no one standing as a concerned, conscientious traffic cop.
To put it bluntly, a Petroleum Commission would serve as a block to the PPPC Government’s hustles in this precious oil and gas sector. A Petroleum Commission would see too much and know too much, and a truly independent one would be a horror to leaders who fool Guyanese first, then run one scam after another on them in the management of the oil money, and robust stewardship of offshore oil operations. Where there is a partnership of secrecy involving the government and oil companies, a Petroleum Commission would provide transparency. Where there is an untouchable oil consortium operating 120 miles from shore, and distrusted political leaders raising objections on land, a Petroleum Commission would put an end to all the banditries that have become the norm. These skullduggeries would only cease, when Guyanese patriots and other experts are on a Petroleum Commission that is focused on getting the best out the national wealth for the people.
The government likes the freedom to do as it pleases, which a viable Petroleum Commission would bring to a stop. Certain crucial people in the government love the tricks and coverups that run rampant in the oil sector. A Petroleum Commission that takes its responsibilities seriously would get to the bottom of those, have none of that. There would be real transparency and accountability in the growing oil sector, and not the conspicuous foolishness that pretends to be. Oil is too big a contributor to the Guyanese economy to be trusted to the hands of politicians who have repeatedly walked back their words, betrayed the confidence placed in them. Such a properly functioning oversight body would be a boon to Guyanese, when it has people of principle, those who take national interests seriously, who are not flunkeys for any leader.
This is what drives the PPPC Government to nervousness. The thought of a Petroleum Commission operating as it should be, makes the government sick, force national leaders to play tricks. How could a Petroleum Commission looking out for the interests of Guyana be seen by the government (by any citizen), as something to be studiously avoided? The PPPC Government and its leaders look frightened, pathetic, with their games on the presence of an independent Petroleum Commission.
(Petroleum Commission would blunt Govt. hustles)
Feb 08, 2025
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