–says citizens must not be ‘tenants’ in their land

ADDING her voice to the ongoing conversation on the Local Content framework in Guyana’s petroleum sector, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, on Tuesday, came out in defence of protected opportunities for citizens of a country to participate in their national patrimony.

“The day that we do not provide opportunity for our citizens who participate in active citizenship of being able to benefit from the patrimony of our country is the day we sow the seeds of destruction for our nation and invite destruction,” Mottley told the packed conference room at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston where global leaders of government and private sector gathered for the International Energy Conference & Expo.

“We will have regional and local conflicts and disagreements,” Mottley continued, adding: “It is our duty to be able to smooth that over… but to ensure that at no stage, as newly-independent countries of the world, do we leave our citizens as tenants in their own land”.

Difficult conversations
The Barbados Prime Minister’s comments encouraged governments to have difficult conversations with their citizens.
“We are not a single-issue people or a single-issue nation. And the complexity of the conversation requires maturity and requires a commitment to frankness,” she said to an attentive audience.

Mottley said the world is faced with a climate crisis which must be slowed down.
She noted, however, that as countries push towards achieving “Net Zero” carbon emissions, this does not mean there should be no use of fossil fuels, as she set the tone for urging a blend between exploring petroleum resources while protecting the climate.

The Barbados Prime Minister highlighted that with the global goal of having an energy mix of 20 per cent fossil fuels and 80 per cent renewable energy by 2050, there is still the question of which nations will provide the 20 per cent fossil fuel.

Mottley called for global, moral leadership which she recognized as being absent as developed nations, which shy away from climate financing recommendations championed by developing nations, would be well-positioned to provide the 20 per cent fossil fuels for global energy demands in 2050.

“We cannot save the earth and sacrifice our people,” the Caribbean leader declared, adding that there are limited opportunities globally for transformational economic development of developing countries.

PM Mottley closed her presentation to a rousing sound of applause as she called on President, Dr Irfaan Ali to support these difficult conversations and communicate to all citizens the complexity of solutions.

“You cannot move from being a highly indebted poor country to being where you are today without being given the opportunity first to bring along your people who have suffered the indignity of that poverty for decades, but secondly without being given the opportunity to participate globally in discussions that will affect your ability to manage the development of your people,” PM Mottley said as she expressed hope that the conference will trigger that international conversation.

Guyana recently enacted a new local content legislation which was presented to the Parliament by Natural Resources minister, Vickram Bharrat, last December.

The legislation ensures that Guyanese and Guyanese-owned businesses are given preference when it comes to providing certain goods and services to the major oil companies operating within Guyana’s borders.