The commencement of commercial oil production which expectedly will take off next year ranks among the most anticipated developments in our nation’s short, but eventful, history. But while there is the potential for transformational changes and much improvement in our people’s quality of life, something we all hope for, it is our firm view that we remain woefully unprepared for whatever may come our way. Several persons have pointed out that we lack even the legislative, as well as the institutional framework to adequately address oil production and the associated issues
The GAWU is very much concerned whether our people’s welfare has been adequately addressed. Quite certainly, we cannot ignore the obvious elephants in the oil room. They are many and very noticeable. The agreement regarding oil production has been widely critcised and it has been disclosed to be among the poorest arrangements in the world. As a small, developing nation, with so many pressing issues which needs to be addressed it is upsetting that our people’s resources are not being satisfactorily managed.
There are also the ongoing concerns regarding the absence of any real local content policy. We saw an article published by OilNow.gy titled “Where is Guyana seeing the benefits of oil production?” disclosing that just over half of the 3,400 employed in the sector are Guyanese. Of course, for us, it would be interesting to know what are the actual jobs undertaken by locals. That article pointed out that “[l]ocal content continues to be a major focus, though a detailed policy and implementation framework, as well as the requisite legislation, has still not been finalized.” In fact, commentator, Mr Christopher Ram, in the December 06, Stabroek News, described the most recent iteration of the Local Content Policy as “junk”. This does not give us much confidence that our interests are safeguarded and that our priorities are really priorities at all.
Of course, the recent engagements regarding the sale of Guyana’s share of oil has not been helpful. What has been deemed unusual practices opens the door for further and heightened suspicions. Rightly, anxieties have been raised as questions abound about whether the correct decisions and approaches are taken.
Magnificent pictures have been painted about the richness that will accrue to our nation. This could well be the case but we remind that for the few properly-managed oil nations, there is a litany of bad ones. Oil in many countries have exacerbated inequity, and created rather than alleviated social and economic challenges. Our Union, recognising those many real world examples, has our concerns. Earlier this year during our engagement with the IMF, we shared views about the possibility of inequality between the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy and its ramifications for wider societal issues. This, the IMF team said, was a concern they had as well
