— VP Jagdeo says, Board of Directors proposed for Natural Resources Fund

EVEN if the global net zero carbon emission targets are met by 2050, the world will still need to be supplied with up to 24 million barrels of oil per day. This is according to Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who recently signalled government’s intention to position Guyana as a deserving long-term oil producer.

“The developed world has done its bit,” Jagdeo said, alluding to the fact that even though first world countries are the leading carbon emitters and polluters of the environment, small and developing nations such as Guyana are the ones suffering the brunt of the consequences, stemming from destructive hurricanes and earthquakes, to disastrous floods and drought.

In his keynote address to an awards ceremony and gala hosted by the Georgetown Chambers of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Thursday evening, Jagdeo registered his disappointment with the court case filed by two Guyanese seeking to bar ExxonMobil and its partners from continuing to drill for oil offshore Guyana. The two men have claimed that the environmental impacts of the operations infringe on their human rights.

“If you add all of the emissions from Exxon Mobil… and emissions from every sector here in Guyana, it will not be equivalent to the emissions of the world in one hour in a day; it would be less than; that is annual emissions,” the Vice-President posited.

He believes that Guyanese who want the country’s oil production to seize are essentially propagating the agenda of developed nations that are adamant to continue the operations that make them wealthier, while saddling developing states with the responsibilities of protecting the environment.

“So, our NGO [Non-Governmental Organisation] believes we must shutdown the operations here, but in the developed world, they want more oil pumped because prices are escalating and affecting their people, their businesses, their consumers,” Jagdeo highlighted.

He continued: “There are just 490 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide allowance remaining before we achieve net zero and the 1.5 degrees targets; that belongs to us now in the developing world; the developed world has used up its allowances, but they don’t behave that way; they want equal burden sharing now, all of everything that we have.”

The former President went further to lament the hypocrisy behind some of the environmental instructions that come from larger countries, including a directive that the developed world will not support financing for any fossil fuel-related activities and that gas, which is a fossil fuel-related sector, should not be part of the energy mix of the future because it is polluting.

“But we have just seen that when gas prices tripled in Europe, the same countries that say this, they’re now starting up some coal fire power plants which are even more polluting than using gas for energy,” Dr. Jagdeo complained. He argued that when developed countries are faced with crises, “they look at any solution, whether it’s polluting or not.”

NO BASIS

Further, the Vice-President pointed to the dangers of publishing unfounded articles that are often “passed off as analysis”. “…they harm our interests and they have no basis in solid reasoning, absolutely none,” Jagdeo posited, as he called on members of the private sector to stand up to the misinformation being peddled.

Jagdeo, dubbed a ‘Champion of the Earth’ for his efforts to fight against climate change, has said that, over the years, Guyana has dutifully served the earth as a net carbon sink, and that it now deserves to be able to maximise its oil resources to improve the country and the lives of its people.

As it is, Guyana’s 18.48 million forested hectares stores some 5.31 gigatons of carbon, making it the second highest forest carbon stock per capita of any country on Earth. According to Jagdeo, this reputable status was not achieved overnight, but rather, resulted from a myriad of protective measures instituted by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), during its years in government.

“First of all, if you have to cut a single tree in Guyana the approach is you have to submit to the Forestry Commission…you have to submit for approval a five-year management plan; you have to submit an annual operational plan; you have to do 100 per cent inventory – that is, measure every tree that you intend to extract; you then get a unique tag that could be traced, a logging tag that could be traced back to your concession for every tree that you cut,” Jagdeo elaborated.

He said that Guyana’s forestry sector currently has world-class monitoring, reporting and verification systems, which are, on an annual basis, internationally verified by satellite technology and on-the-ground proofing. “That is why our forest has remained intact,” Jagdeo asserted.

He said that definitively, too, even with a relatively new petroleum sector, the PPP/C Government will ensure that the growing economy is effectively balanced with improved measures to protect the environment.

Even as the local oil and gas sector continues to grow more and more lucrative, the Dr. Irfaan Ali-led government has insisted that it will not fall prey to the infamous Dutch Disease by becoming overly reliant on oil revenues.

As a matter of fact, the government has often said that it intends to utilise its oil revenues to propel the countries critical non-oil sectors such as agriculture, education, tourism, health and social services.

KEY
Added to that, Jagdeo reminded that enacting comprehensive and effective Local Content legislation is also key to ensuring that Guyanese benefit directly from their nation’s oil wealth. This piece of legislation is expected to be tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday, according Jagdeo.

He explained that the contents of the legislation were crafted in a manner which ensures optimum local participation in the petroleum industry, but does not discourage foreign investments. “That’s the balance we’re trying to strike and it will be done, and we will pass it soon.”

Also slated for the National Assembly is the Amendment Bill for the Natural Resources Fund (NRF), which seeks to ensure that the country’s oil revenues are spent in a manner that is transparent to the people of Guyana.

The government has said that it will not touch a dime of the $US534 million contained in the fund, unless the existing legislation is amended to ensure greater transparency with regards to use of the monies.

Jagdeo said that, as part of the proposed amendments to the NRF, a Finance Minister could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment for failing to disclose and officially Gazette receipt of oil revenues within a three-month period.

He was quick to reference previous transgressions committed by the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government, particularly as it related to a signing bonus it received from oil giant, ExxonMobil in 2016.

“The former Finance Minister said we never received, nor did we request a signing bonus… a year after they [the previous government] had received the $18 million US dollars and placed it in an account that is not reflected in the Consolidated Fund nor was part of the balance sheet of the Central Bank,” Jagdeo recalled.

He reminded too that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic was forced to go as far as the courts to ensure that the monies were paid into the Consolidated Fund, in accordance with the Constitution.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Altogether, Jagdeo said that four major sets of amendments were being proposed for the legislation which governs the NRF. They include a proposal for a Board of Directors to be strategically inserted to function between the Finance Minister and the management of the fund.

“While in opposition, we said that the Minister of Finance was too directly involved and had too much of an influence in the legislation,” the Vice-President noted.

He assured that once the proposed amendments are passed, all matters pertaining to the NRF, including deposits and withdrawals, would be clearly publicised in a manner that could be easily understood by members of the public. “It is not going to be complex. It will say that below this sum on an annual basis, the money comes directly to the Treasury, and beyond this sum, larger shares of it will be saved,” Jagdeo noted.