–Dr Jagdeo says; affirms that Guyana’s oil resources are being managed responsibly

ALTHOUGH Guyana’s developmental surge will serve as a catalyst to improve the lives of all Guyanese, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has said that there are detractors of development who are “hell-bent” on stopping this progress.

During a press conference last week, Dr Jagdeo highlighted the double standards that are surfacing as Guyana advances.
Despite the country standing as a model for development in environmental conservation, with one of the lowest deforestation rates, some persons have criticised the government for developing its oil-and-gas resources by claiming that it is detrimental to the environment.

With that said, the PPP General Secretary said that Guyana will remain a carbon sink even at maximum oil-and-gas production. However, according to Dr Jagdeo, this sort of rhetoric is never put towards developed countries that have been harming the environment with their production of fossil fuels.

Putting things into perspective on how Guyana has changed since the PPP government took office, Dr Jagdeo said that if one compares the environmental permits under the previous administration versus the current one, they would see the magnitude of change.

He further said that there are many policies and measures that have been crafted by the PPP government to safeguard Guyana, such as the treatment of waste water and the passing of new legislations.
While highlighting the double standards, Dr Jagdeo said: “Stop the oil production,” “keep it in the ground,” “too much emissions will come,” but they don’t tell the developed world to do that…”

The PPP General Secretary affirmed that the development of Guyana’s oil resources is being done responsibly.
Repeating some of the narratives that Guyana has to endure, the PPP General Secretary said the nation often hears that they have a moral obligation, hence, Guyana should not pursue the expansion of its oil resources.
“What about the moral obligation of the developed world that has the current concentration of greenhouse gases that [are] already driving climate change?” he questioned.

Even though there are some individuals who question the ability of the government when it comes to managing the oil resources, the PPP General Secretary said there is transparency.
“We’re managing them even better than most of the developed world because we have total transparency in the use of the resources; every cent has to be [approved] by the Parliament before it’s spent; we have provisions that mandate that the Minister of Finance has to inform the country,” he said.

Dr Jagdeo added: “So we’re very pleased with our stewardship and the strong measures that we have put in place to monitor the sector… but we are not going to forego our opportunities.”
Although most Guyanese are standing in unison and saying that the nation has a right to develop its resources, Dr Jagdeo underscored that there are some persons who have other ambitions and choose to rally against this progress.

“We don’t take [kindly] to the lectures because we’re confident that these resources belong to our people and first of all, we’re elected to work for our people but we’re also mindful of our international obligations, [but] you have a group of people in this country who are hell-bent on pulling everything,” he firmly remarked.