PLEASE do not affix any oil-and-gas consultant or oil-and-gas academic titles to my name after the publication of this column.

The only thing I know about oil from a technical standpoint is that Wesson Oil is far lighter than some cheaper brands of oil in Bourda Market. However, I do believe it is the duty of all those who discuss ideas in the Guyanese public sphere, to do some research and become au fait with this resource and its implications. In my humble opinion, every Guyanese columnist should be researching and writing on this topic. I have completed some research which I believe ought to be in the public space.

Government Intervention
Despite the Krauss-esque negative prognostications of Guyana’s imminent sojourn into the oil-and-gas industry, there are positives in our governance structure that bode well for us. We are not a banana republic. We have decades of strong governance structures and a vibrant parliamentary system. In this post-2015 Guyana, we have a government that does not stifle dissent, critics are not being placed in jail on trumped-up treason charges; and reporters are not being targeted because of criticisms against government. We have an opposition that execute their duties without fear of being targeted by the state. Our civil society is alive and well. This allows for the free space to debate and discuss. Good governance is vibrant and in such an environment, the best solutions are found. Added to this, on May 11th 2015, the people of Guyana elected a government of national unity which is led by two incorruptible leaders. Imagine if we were still strangled by the pre-2015 pillaging in an emerging oil-and- gas industry context, this would have been disastrous. There are some good signs which suggest the glass is half-filled, there are those who prefer to say the glass is half empty.

Further, the APNU+AFC government has already committed to ensuring that the Sovereign Wealth Fund legislation is in place by 2020. A Green Paper on the Sovereign Wealth Fund has been submitted. This paper incorporates the ‘Santiago Principles’ which are a collection of safeguards for oil revenues guided by best practices based on global lessons learnt. The Government of Guyana has consistently reached out to its development partners for the best advice on how to approach this new paradigm. To date, the Government of Guyana has moved swiftly to put the following safeguards in place: the national upstream oil and gas policy is being put in place and national local content policy will soon be taken for the second round of consultation. This is designed to ensure that local businesses are given a chance to access oil revenues. By the end of August, the government will set up a Department of Energy. The Petroleum Exploration & Production Act is being revised and the Petroleum Commission of Guyana Bill to be returned to the National Assembly before August. If we have to move slowly to get it right, then so be it. Due diligence is key, this is our last chance. We are literally moving from 0-60, according to Mark Blomerth, Head of Latin American Upstream Research for Wood MacKenzie, a consultancy firm.

The Resource Curse
The oil curse or the resource curse, also referred to as the paradox of plenty, is the idea that countries that are endowed with natural resources are more likely to experience less economic growth. Sarah Chayes, Senior Fellow Democracy, Conflict and Governance Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, noted, “of the world’s nearly 60 oil-producing countries, a mere half dozen have escaped the oil curse.” History has shown that you can make all of the above-mentioned interventions and still succumb to the black gold curse. History also shows that nations that diversify their economies, respect and enhance their traditional revenue earners and avoid national gravitation to oil as the only source of fiscal survival, have managed to avoid the trappings of oil. Guyana has the luxury of examining the long list of negative examples to see what we must not follow or repeat. Speaking on Al Jazeera’s ‘The Stream’, Lisa Sachs, Director, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, opined that pitfalls such as the ‘Dutch Disease’ can be avoided. She noted the case of East Timor. The careful moves by the Government of Guyana suggest we are being diligent and that should put us in a good position to escape disaster.

Last Chance
Having considered all of the above, you have to believe that this might be our last chance to emerge from the unrelenting shadows of underdevelopment. This is the time to erase and banish for good, all the ignominious phrases associated with this great nation: ‘Poorest country in South America’, ‘Third poorest country in the Western Hemisphere’ and all the other ignoble epithets that seem like permanent conditions of existence. For decades, we have had to bow our collective heads in shame, whether in conversations with foreigners or sitting on insular immigrations benches. This has to be the end, or we will go down as just another land with plenty, deep in poverty.