Opinion
Trotman should have advised President placing oil bonus outside Consolidated Fund illegal
The onus was on Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman to tell President David Granger that he would be breaking the law if the US$18M bonus went anywhere else but to the Consolidated Fund, commentator and civil society activist Melinda Janki says. For his role in allowing the illegal act of placing the money into…
Oil Production and Corruption – Granger style!
STRAIGHT TALK Let me be very clear, Minister Trotman and Minister Jordan are creatures of President David Granger. They cannot collect G$3,780,000,000 (Yes, nuff zeros! G$3.7 billion is the equivalent of US$18 million) from a private sector investor with a track record that is not perfect with respect to relations with third world governments and…
Trotman should do the decent thing and resign
Dear Editor, The Justice Institute Guyana strongly endorses the views expressed in Monday’s editorial ‘ExxonMobil signing bonus’ and joins Transparency International Guyana, Chris Ram, Anand Goolsarran and members of the public in condemning the secret payment of US$18M from ExxonMobil to the government. See more here
Signing bonus should be returned to ExxonMobil – Goolsarran
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran says that the controversial signing bonus that the government took should be returned to ExxonMobil as it cannot be considered as legitimate. See more here
Did the U.S. Just Pull Out of a Global Anti-Corruption Group?
There is a mystery unfolding in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Officials there seem to have removed the United States from a singularly successful anti-corruption effort. This has happened largely in secret, aside from a few public statements in legalese that are nearly impossible to parse. At times, bureaucrats in the department have behaved in…
US exit from EITI is most disappointing
Dear Editor, While visiting the UK, I read that the US had pulled out of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) which Guyana is now a candidate member of. There are some 51 members. The US presence in the body served as a model against corruption and acted as a pressure for other countries to…
Guyanese need the release of the Exxon contract and to know if a signing bonus was paid
Stabroek News’ ‘Politikles’ cartoon, on the heels of its report that Petroleum Advisor to the President Dr Jan Mangal, said “I believe that all contracts should be made public,” adequately sums up the current state of affairs– the Minister of Natural Resources is running from transparency and accountability. Why isn’t the Coalition government listening to…
Guyana must “bite the bullet” and pay for highly skilled professionals
Petroleum Advisor to Guyana’s President, Dr. Jan Mangal, says the South American country’s government needs to take firm steps towards “opening the doors” to professionals as part of a policy to attract skills which are badly needed in the emerging oil and gas industry. “The Government really needs to bite the bullet and pay for…
Focus on the oil revenue
…Petroleum advisor urges citizens Government’s Petroleum Advisor Dr Jan Manga believes that Guyanese need to have realistic expectations of the impending oil-and-gas industry and urged that focus be placed on infrastructural development and investing the revenue from the resource on the citizens. Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Dr Mangal said with news of the oil finds,…
‘Can’t bare all’
…Gov’t insists full release of Exxon contract has wide implications MINISTER of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman said government has been advised by external advisors and lawyers that it should not release the full contract with United States (U.S.) oil giant, Exxon Mobil, noting that a number of extenuating and external issues are being attended to,…