–Norton declines to inform public about members of the party’s ‘oil committee’
–Dr Jagdeo says Opposition ‘drifting in the wind’ because of lack of vision, plan, policies, programmes

THE opposition remains reluctant to inform the public about the member(s) of its “oil committee,” choosing instead to keep the identities of its trusted advisers in the closet.

Although the oil and gas sector is one of Guyana’s leading economic drivers, the People’s National Congress-Reform (PNC-R) has remained secretive about who is advising them on this burgeoning sector despite mounting claims and reports that the party is clueless when it comes to this area.

Also, despite the wider sections of society demanding this information, Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, has said that he will not release this information because he does not want the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, to know.

“We have an oil and gas committee that functions, that looks at all the issues. We are comfortable with them working in the way they are working…,” Norton said during a press conference last Thursday.
While continuing to minimise the matter of national interest to a political issue, Norton said: “Don’t worry yourself with who are on our oil and gas committee….”

At the time, Norton was directing his comments directly to the PPP General Secretary.
Dr Jagdeo, at his press conference on Thursday, was asked about Norton being mum on this important matter.

In response to this, he said: “So I explained that when you don’t have a vision, you don’t have a plan, you don’t have policies and programmes, you tend to drift in the wind. So, they tend to be very anecdotal, they tend to generalise.”
Reflecting on the brief stint that the PPP/C spent in Opposition, Dr Jagdeo boldly stated that on every issue the party had a view, unlike the current Opposition, which, according to him, criticises but never put forth counteroffers.

“Our manifesto outlined what we are going to do in the oil and gas sector. We outlined it clearly… in every single area we had views, we defended our views. They were rounded in facts, they were rounded in technical assessments etc…,” he said.
Dr Jagdeo even predicted some of the tactics that the Opposition will deploy in the upcoming 2025, since it is clear as day and they are known for repeating their actions.

According to him, just like the Green State Development Strategy, the Opposition will put forth a plan that only sounds “good on textbook.”
He said: “It’s not a Guyana-based strategy like how we have the LCDS and it now is a method of earning money, dealing with adaptation, protecting biodiversity, managing our water like in an integrated way….”

Dr Jagdeo stated that unlike the Opposition which remains reluctant to take “strong policy positions”, this is not the case for the PPP/C government.
“They’re scared of taking a strong policy position [for] fear of being criticised; never mind they know that’s the right thing to do. We [PPP] have no such fear because we have to defend our policies. We believe it’s only fair to the people of this country that you tell them what your policies are and you defend them,” the PPP General Secretary said.