August 2, 2021
A year ago today, Irfaan Ali was sworn in as President of Guyana following the months-long attempt to rig Guyana’s March 2nd 2020 general elections in favour of APNU+AFC and a return of the incumbent, former President Granger. A year is a good enough period to draw a line under that dastardly attempt to upturn the will of the people so that the country can grapple single-mindedly with the tasks ahead. Those in the GECOM Secretariat who nakedly corrupted the electoral processes must be removed from their positions and they and others involved in the plot must face the full brunt of the law for their criminal acts.
Having benefited from local and international sympathy over the struggle to gain office, President Ali and his administration now face vertiginous challenges in taking the country forward over the next four years. COVID-19 remains a clear and present danger to the people and there are ongoing questions about the government’s unwillingness to tighten measures, including targeted shutdowns when necessary, particularly with the likelihood that the rampant Delta variant is present here. The death toll continues to mount with six more fatalities confirmed on Saturday and five more yesterday and the situation has been compounded by the veritable vaccine hesitancy that is evident across the country. The education sector faces particularly serious challenges and expert views must be canvassed before any decision is made for the reopening of schools for face-to-face instruction.
One of the dominant features of the Ali administration thus far is its engagement with the public. The President and his ministers have crisscrossed the country as a definite strategy to explain their programmes and deliver services and relief. This is a welcome development and a marked departure from the outlook of the Granger administration. This engagement creates conditions for direct accountability by ministers and senior officials to the public as has been seen in the outreaches by Minister of Agriculture, Mustapha and Minister with responsibility for Finance, Singh in relation to the National Insurance Scheme.
Accountability is however a much broader canvas and here the government has much work to do. Communication of Cabinet decisions and explanations of them have been found wanting. The public has a right to be aware of decisions taken by Cabinet and their justification. The covert issuing of two trawling licences early in the life of the administration remains a source of concern. Ministers have given explanations as matters arise but this has to be done in a structured way. Regular presidential press conferences have been a useful vehicle for the Head of State to explicate and enable engagement with the media but President Ali thus far seems disinclined
Within the rubric of accountability, questions will continue to mount over the decisions that are being made on the launch of major projects and whether value for money will be assured. The last year has seen an impressive array of projects launched such as the two bypass roads on the East Bank of Demerara and pertaining to myriad community thoroughfares, bridges, sea and river defences and drainage works among other areas. Given the dearth of engineering, supervisory and other skills in the country, members of the public would be well in order to question the evolution of these projects and whether quality work is being done with these large amounts of taxpayers’ money and loans.
As there is no contemporaneous external scrutiny of these projects unless a special investigation is embarked upon by the Office of the Auditor General, President Ali’s government should consider the urgent establishment of an inspectorate manned by qualified engineers and others to examine the quality of work on these projects so that they don’t fail and cost the country enormous sums. There is also justified concern that the government appears wedded to time frames for the completion of marquee projects, such as the new crossing over the Demerara River, rather than ensuring the best possible plans are approved. In its former incarnations, the PPP/C government would be well aware of major failures in public projects. Undue risks cannot be taken with the large projects that are being contemplated.
The unwillingness to insist on the renegotiation of the unjust 2016 Production Sharing Agreement with ExxonMobil and its partners raises frontally the question of whether President Ali’s government is intent on securing the best terms for the Guyanese people and future generations. Apart from this, there has been consternation that despite its full awareness of the complex issues surrounding the oil and gas sector, the PPP/C government has been lax in securing the regulatory boundaries and has been indulgent with ExxonMobil, its partners and their major contractors. Who would have believed that after a year in office the government is yet to present a single piece of legislation on the oil and gas industry? A bill is scheduled for tomorrow’s sitting of Parliament but not on crucial areas. Who would have believed that after 12 months the government is yet to activate Natural Resource Fund Act which has become standard in the firmament of new oil producers? Who would have believed that the keystone Petroleum Commission is yet to be established to provide effective oversight?
In the meanwhile, the government – again for the expediency of growing revenues – has permitted ExxonMobil to flare billions of cubic feet of gas over the Atlantic whereas the company should have been told that there would be dire consequences for the inability to rapidly repair faulty compression equipment on its Liza-1 platform together with severe fines. The government has also now embarked on a gas-to-shore-to-energy project, the soundness and viability of which has not been adequately grounded. The project is rife with a variety of risks and if proceeded with will add to the climate burden. Rather than focusing on its executive and regulatory functions, the government comes across as a partner in ExxonMobil’s operations and there needs to be a recalibration of its role.
With the opposition thoroughly discredited following their term in office and the elections impasse, President Ali has paid little heed to the vital need to fully engage with the Leader of the Opposition. This is a blunder that will have all manner of repercussions not least the inability to mobilise support for vaccinations in all parts of the country. The Opposition Leader remains the formal spokesperson in Parliament for that nearly half of the population that didn’t vote for President Ali’s government. Their views, insecurities and rights cannot be diminished one whit through the intransigence of the government or the opposition. President Ali must ensure the immediate activation of the full gamut of responsibilities of the Leader of the Opposition as it pertains to representing the views of the people who voted for APNU+AFC in addition to constitutional functions such as consultations on the substantive appointments of the Chancellor of the Judiciary, the Chief Justice and the Commissioner of Police.
It also remains to be seen whether the government is indeed committed to constitutional reforms. A year has already been lost even though virtual consultations have been successfully embarked on in many other arenas in light of the pandemic. The government should have already published a skeletal outline of how it intends to pursue constitutional reform. Not even this has been available.
Given the projected oil revenues over the next four years, there can be transformational changes in the country. However, the enduring challenges remain and it is not yet clear that these can be overcome.
