Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram
“During the 2015 elections, the APNU+AFC Party campaigned on the promise of fighting corruption. But since assuming office, anticorruption is no longer the centre piece of Government’s agenda.”
Those were the words of Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. David Hinds as he reflected on the Coalition’s approach to corruption in the last three years.
The University Professor said that while the government has put a break on runway corruption, there are instances, which have arisen about malpractice in office. In this regard, he pointed to the fact that the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) is keen on questioning the circumstances involving the award of the contract for the feasibility study on the New River bridge Crossing.
Dr. Hinds said, too, that he is disappointed with the government’s sloth on anti-corruption legislation.
“It is my view that Parliament does not meet often enough. These are issues which need to be high on the agenda.”
Also in agreement with Dr. Hinds’ perspective is Chartered Accountant and Oil and Gas Academic, Chris Ram. The Attorney-at-law, in his most recent writings chided the government for its approach on oil and gas and the loopholes that may continue to exist for abuse and wide-scale corruption.
Ram said, “the Government has not amended one iota of the outdated petroleum laws of Guyana; failed to appoint a Chief Inspector who is the key technical petroleum officer specified in the laws of Guyana; failed to enforce the local content requirements of the petroleum laws; failed to consider any alternatives to the Production Sharing Agreement; failed to audit close to one billion United States Dollars in what is called pre-contract costs; failed to articulate a Petroleum Policy including a depletion policy, natural gas, domestic supply and the pricing of petroleum products; hid the signing bonus and continues to deprive the citizens of the country of access to key documents.”
Dr. Hinds said that one cannot argue with the points made by Ram.
“What you are seeing is that the government does not have a vision for the oil and gas sector…With the kind of money that will be coming into the oil and gas sector, companies of all sorts will be jockeying to come into that wealth…and we are a nation that is susceptible to bribery and when you have that kind of scenario and the right anticorruption measures are not in place then you are playing with a fireball of corruption.”
The newspaper columnist said that the government needs to craft a vision for spending and protecting the oil funds to come. He also criticized the government for restricting the issue of managing oil to Cabinet meetings on Tuesday. Dr. Hinds insisted that this is not the way in which such a critical issue is to be handled.
He suggested that there be a semi-autonomous think tank to iron out issues regarding guarding against corruption, ensuring equitable distribution, saving and investing of the oil wealth and crafting policies to support the implementation of local content.