Guyanese are trapped in an unprecedented and appalling Petroleum Agreement with Exxon (Exxon, Hess and Nexen). It is an enslavement type agreement, arranged and recorded in exploitative and egregious language. What has been forced on this nation by APNU-AFC is inexcusable, unjustifiable and indefensible; and we are further insulted by calling the sell out “an Agreement”, one that needs unlimited gloss that will fail badly at showing any fairness or reasonableness. Whatever gloss is used will be wholly insufficient to convince anyone with an iota of common sense to conclude that this contract is not extremely irrational and disadvantageous to the Guyanese people. The PSA is so awful and odious for Guyana that it is a thousand times worse than any other defects APNU-AFC has foisted on Guyana since May 11, 2015.
The deceit, the dishonesty and the insensitivity are all culminated in this most hideous contract that represents a sellout of Guyana’s fortune for a pittance. The players led by APNU-AFC coalition upturned every rock in the pseudo agreement, and comparable to looking for a jewel in a toad to justify an ignoble and shameful arrangement, which at this point in time has denied Guyanese of 10s of Billions of United States Dollars – with some of the most ungodly terms that some have had the temerity to call sacrosanct. A sin in and of itself.
Let me acknowledge the contribution and my debt to Raymond Gaskin who referred to some of the absurd terms that constitute the arrangement between our APNU-AFC and Exxon including some of the following giveaways that are being defended by the inner APNU-AFC cabal after selling out generations of Guyanese by: agreeing to pay Exxon’s Pre-Contract Costs and Pay As You Earn Taxes, implant a stabilization clause that makes a mockery of Guyana’s sovereignty, agreeing to the ridiculously low 2% royalty, the absence of a signing bonus, setting up a secret account at Bank of Guyana to slush in the legal fee, lack of transparency, a bridge or bridgeless deed that is illegal, a 1999 arrangement for oil only, then a 2016 arrangement for oil and gas, a 1999 agreement with Exxon only, then a 2016 agreement with Exxon, Hess and Nexen, only God, Exxon and their partners know how much Billions of United States Dollars Exxon received for the 55% sale of the Stabroek Block to their partners. Then we have an escrow letter hidden from the Guyanese people and the still withheld deed, no ring fencing of exploration for natural gas from oil production costs, natural gas discoveries in the Stabroek Block that are hidden from the Guyanese public that is likely equivalent to another eight billion barrels of oil, illegal non-relinquishment of blocks under the 1999 agreement, no independent insurance for Exxon in the event of an oil spill, “ first world country Guyana” will be responsible for cleaning up the spill and then seek reasonable reimbursement from Exxon, no performance bond demanded from Exxon, instruction by Exxon to independent Guyana – that the subject Minister cannot delegate certain functions; what gall; all harsh terms and cover-ups that are acceptable to APNU-AFC.
To truly nail this sacrifice of our patrimony to the cross in this most ill-begotten sell out arrangement from the netherworld, we have the PPP our major opposition making a commitment not to renegotiate the so-called PSA with Exxon. The twin-like behaviour of the PPP-PNC to not renegotiate the Exxon arrangement amounts to corrupt and poisonous conduct, where seeking the power of executive office is more important than securing prosperity for generations of Guyanese.
The “PPP-PNC” coalition spawned from the same seed in 1950 have brought Guyanese to this most embarrassing, humiliating, shameful and disgraceful breaking point of our history. It’s a miserable and rotten deal with Exxon that must be changed.
Failure to be transparent is the modus operandi of PPP-PNC, especially on major contracts, when holding the office of the Presidency of Guyana. The singular reason that this is allowed to occur in blessed, resource bountiful and beautiful Guyana is the racially divisive politics that the two major parties exploit, supplemented by lack of inclusivity in governance and absence of racial diversity in decision making, then conflated with the ambition for political power and status taking precedence over principle and the interest of Guyana, where more than one third of Guyanese people live in poverty.
Letter by Nigel Hinds, Chairman of Change Guyana