Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Column 151 – January 4, 2025 As the first column for the new year, we wish all Guyanese and especially readers of this column a successful, healthy and productive 2025.
Introduction
“No Guyanese could agree with this.” These were the unequivocal words of then-presidential candidate Irfaan Ali in 2020, speaking about the 2016 PSA in a virtual interview on 26 February 2020. Just a reminder – that was one week before the 2020 elections. He went further: “We have to go towards re-looking at these contracts, renegotiating these contracts… we have to ensure that our country does not get the wrong end of the stick.”
Today, four years later and comfortably ensconced as President, Dr. Ali declares he has “no interest” in even writing to ExxonMobil about renegotiation. The spoken word, like an arrow loosed from its bow, cannot be recalled – yet the President attempts the impossible, a truly regrettable situation which does no justice or honour to President Ali or to the highest office in the land.
From Conviction to Capitulation
What makes the situation so striking and so stark is the about-turn by Dr. Ali on a position he shared with ALL Guyanese a few years ago. Except, of course, the perennial bogey-man PNC. Now the President and the PNC adore the same exploitative oil contract, against the rest of Guyana. The contrast between candidate Ali and President Ali could not be starker. In the interview, when asked about the Global Witness report which identified the signing away of US$55 Bn, and about revisiting oil contracts, candidate Ali declared unequivocally: “We have made it clear that we have to go towards renegotiating these contracts. Everything is on the table for review …Review and renegotiate.”
Today, that passionate commitment has evolved into the inappropriate principle about the “sanctity of contracts” which is now opportunistically joined by concerns about investment climate. Another significant contrast was his less than respectful treatment of a female journalist at his recent press conference, in which he questioned her motives and the political connection of her publisher. Compare this with his friendly tone with a male host in the earlier interview – on the exact same renegotiation issue which he so vociferously promoted before he became President. The banal explanation of “different strokes ….” cannot apply in our country’s president’s case.
The Inapplicability of Sanctity
My Oil and Gas Columns 146 to 150 exhaustively examined the legal analysis of the “sanctity of contracts” in a Canadian case. The circumstances of that case were so different that made its application to the 2016 Agreement completely irrelevant and inapplicable. As demonstrated through the Churchill Falls case and numerous other examples, the principle of sanctity has never been an absolute bar to renegotiation, particularly when:
- The agreement itself provides for renegotiation (Article 31.2)
- Circumstances have fundamentally changed (reserves quadrupling from 3 to far in excess of 11.6 billion barrels)
- The original terms were demonstrably secured under duress and unequal bargaining power
- That the principle cannot in a thousand years trump Guyana’s Constitution.
President Ali’s sudden expression of investment climate concerns rings particularly hollow given Guyana’s transformed bargaining position. With proven reserves now exceeding an understated 11.6 billion barrels, the oil companies will not risk a government-favoured monopoly in the most successful and productive oil fields of the past fifty years. Correspondingly, the unacceptable circumstances giving rise to a questionable extension country for another four decades deserve not only a review but a Presidential Commission of Inquiry.
Constitutional Duty Abandoned
Guyana’s constitution and international law are strong on permanent sovereignty over the country’s natural resources. His sworn duty is to protect those resources as if the country’s life depended on it. Apart from the President’s general obligations of his office, he has specific constitutional duties regarding natural resources. The Constitution mandates the protection of Guyana’s patrimony and the non-exploitative use of natural resources for the benefit of all citizens. By refusing to even consider renegotiation, the President abandons these fundamental responsibilities.
His position directly violates Article 50’s identification of “the Parliament, the President and Cabinet” as supreme organs of democratic power. Through his inaction, he cedes this constitutional authority and duty to a foreign corporation with a documented history of manipulated numbers and improper conduct. This surrender of sovereignty is made more egregious because Article 31.2 of the PSA explicitly provides for renegotiation – a tool the President refuses to even consider using.
Rather than addressing the Agreement’s fundamental flaws, the President appears content with passive landlordism – letting ExxonMobil control the country’s principal sector while Guyana collects minimal royalties and meagre profits. These well-known flaws aren’t mere technical issues – they represent systematic disadvantages that will affect generations of Guyanese.
The Shareholder/Citizen Paradox
Paradoxically, the President leaves his countrywomen and men in the position that they stand to gain better and more valuable benefits as ExxonMobil shareholder than as a Guyanese citizen relying on their government to protect national resources. As a shareholder, a Guyanese will benefit from huge dividends and increased share price driven by robust and aggressive corporate governance, detailed financial reporting and management accountability. As a citizen, the same person must depend on discretionary handouts, lack of information, non-consultation and dismissal of their concerns. Now they face a President unwilling to even write a letter seeking better terms.
It is to President Ali’s discredit that he has placed Guyanese in such a perverse situation.
Conclusion
It is a sad day for Guyana when its leader has broken that bond of trust with the citizens; when its president shows that there is no obligation to act consistent with his promises; casually ignores his constitutional obligations to protect the country’s national resources; and does not treat women with the same respect he extends to men. When citizens would find better protection of their interests as shareholders in their exploiters than as citizens of their own country, we have truly reached a nadir in governance.
It is too late now for the President to change course and to regain the trust that the presidency and the country deserve. As an accomplished academic with access to the best local and international resources that money can buy, he must know that the question is not whether we have the right to renegotiate. We clearly do. Only he knows why he has acted as he did.
However, and by whomsoever he has came to the position he did, President Ali will forever carry the heavy burden of having let down his country, the presidency and the people.
