–Dr. Jagdeo highlights PPP’s strong policy-making abilities; flays Opposition over constant rhetoric, poor track record of no action

THE A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) remains unproductive in the area of policy proposals, since both parties have a track record of “talk” and no “action”, according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

Dr. Jagdeo, during a recent press conference, reminded citizens that under the previous APNU+AFC government, there was not that much information shared regarding matters of national interest.
“The thing about us is not just consistency and action, or consistency in policy; we have maintained our policy postures that we took in opposition. We didn’t drift with the wind, so the same positions we had then, because we had taken studied positions on these matters, we have pursued these in government,” he said.

Dr. Jagdeo added: “We argued about that, although the contract was very flawed, and we pointed out every single area in which the contract was flawed, and we dedicated ourselves to fixing this in a new PSA, which we have done now. We said, although flawed, we will not renegotiate the contract, and we gave a reason in opposition. And we continue to give a reason today, why. And you can go back and find evidence of this, if you review the press conferences from the opposition. So, we’ll continue having these press conferences.”

On the topic of the Opposition’s relationship when it comes to policy-making, Dr. Jagdeo brought to light some comments made by Opposition parliamentarian, Roysdale Forde on the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).
He then blasted Forde for not reviewing the contract since 2016, especially since he is an attorney-at-law, and is even contending to be leader of the People’s National Congress-Reform (PNC-R).

“For a party that signed the contract when they were in government years ago, and for a person who is contending to be the leader of that party, who is a lawyer, a Senior Counsel at that, and can’t even give a studied response to elements of the contract…,” he highlighted.

Dr. Jagdeo said: “We reviewed it in opposition and pointed out the things that we wanted changed. We changed them in the PSA, and said we would not renegotiate the contract.”
While the discovery of oil was made during the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s watch, it was under the APNU+AFC that the PSA was signed.

In the 2016, PSA fiscal terms, the royalty was a mere two per cent, while the recoverable cost oil was 75 per cent.
Notably, there was also a US$18 million signing bonus that the APNU+AFC received from ExxonMobil, which was not made public until the then government came under intense criticism.

The funds were deposited into a Bank of Guyana (BoG) account before being moved into the Consolidated Fund.
However, under the PPP, the oil-and-gas sector has become more transparent, as the government is working to ensure that Guyanese benefit from the country’s lush oil resources.

A new PSA was also drafted, which includes a 10 per cent royalty, up from two per cent being paid by the Exxon group, a lowering of cost-recovery share for producers, and a new corporate tax.