JOURNALIST and business consultant, Wesley Kirton, made an interesting point in a letter in the newspapers, arguing that SARA should wait until it wraps up its investigations into the award of oil blocks by the PPP government before it makes a public shout.

On this specific point, I wish to concede that Mr. Kirton has a point, especially as it relates to SARA’s investigations and business/investor confidence in Guyana. But on the wider point about whether malfeasance was afoot when the PPP gave out our oil blocks to two companies with no established history in oil and gas, I wish to contend that SARA is on to something.

As I understand it, the two companies with close PPP ties but with no financial record, previous stints in oil and no proven ability to develop an oil field, were given the concessions just a few days before the 2015 elections. Despite what Mr. Ramotar may say, this kind of behavior and approach to national rather than PPP assets are very familiar to Guyana and Guyanese as a whole. It is the classic operating modus of the PPP so I urge the experts at SARA to investigate.

The scandal here Mr. Editor, is that the two blocks – Canje and Kaieteur – are in what we are told are ultra-deep waters, beyond where Exxon and its partners are working.

Exxon is a huge multinational firm with billions at its disposal and is one of the few big oil firms able to work in such waters. So the question is, does the companies which received the licences have the ability to work in such deep waters or was it just another route by the PPP and its high officials to create wealth for themselves through cronies and surrogates?

My humble contention is that SARA should proceed full speed ahead with its probe into the award of the blocks, but in the future should restrain from official pronouncements that might, in fact, create some doubts in the minds of investors about how things work in our beloved Guyana. And as the Kaieteur News puts it today, “how did 4.8 acres of offshore Guyana end up in the hands of four companies with no track record in the oil industry?”

Regards
Peter Joseph
Roy Mason
Nazeema Mohamed