Contract disclosure a major issue for citizens during consultations – Local EITI Head
Jul 22, 2017 , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....ons-local-eiti-head/
– Says body will push for laws to be changed to encourage same
By Kiana Wilburg
The disclosure of the contract between the Government of Guyana and US oil giant, ExxonMobil, was one of the major issues raised during the consultations held by the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GY-EITI) in recent weeks.
This is according to the body’s head, Dr. Rudy Jadoopat.
In an interview with Kaieteur News last evening, Dr. Jadoopat said that he was heartened by the overwhelming response to the consultations and deemed it a success.
He reminded that consultations were held in Corriverton, Bartica, Linden, and Charity, with the final one being in Georgetown. He said that the last event saw the attendance of Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.
Jadoopat told this newspaper that one of the major issues raised by citizens was in relation to the disclosure of details in the oil contract between the Government and ExxonMobil.
In this regard, the head of GY-EITI said that citizens were informed during the consultations, of the EITI rules and regulations governing contract disclosure. Jadoopat cited EITI’s Standard 2.4 (a) and (b) clauses which state how disclosures are supposed to be made by implementing countries.
According to EITI’s website, Standard 2.4 says, “2.4 Contracts. (a) Implementing countries are encouraged to publicly disclose any contracts and licenses that provide the terms attached to the exploitation of oil, gas and minerals. b) It is a requirement that the EITI Report documents the government’s policy on disclosure of contracts and licenses that govern the exploration and exploitation of oil, gas and minerals. This should include relevant legal provisions, actual disclosure practices and any reforms that are planned or underway. Where applicable, the EITI Report should provide an overview of the contracts and licenses that are publicly available, and include a reference or link to the location where these are published. https://eiti.org/document/standard.”
GUYANA’S DILEMMA
While GY-EITI seeks to encourage contract disclosure as stated in the EITI Standard, this is not supported in Guyana’s laws.
In this regard, Jadoopat said that the Government has no choice but to respect the laws.
He said, “Government has to observe the local laws on contract disclosure. However, we will continue to encourage and advocate for the change of these laws. We hope that happens. We will try to influence the process in that direction within the capacity we operate in.”
The official emphatically stated that the body will push until contract disclosure becomes law.
TIGI’S CALL
Amidst calls for the disclosure of the ExxonMobil Contract, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI), was one of the first bodies to take the initiative to ascertain whether the release of the said document is supported in existing laws.
TIGI noted that Part II, S4 of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (http://goinvest.gov.gy/wp-cont...duction-cap6510-.pdf) provides as follows:
“4. (1) Subject to subsection (2), no information furnished, or information in a report submitted, pursuant to this Act by a licensee shall be disclosed to any person who is not a Minister, a public officer or an employee of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission except with the consent of the licensee.
(3) Where a licensee is a party to a petroleum agreement the right of the licensee, his servants or agents to disclose information about prospecting or production operations under the licence shall be subject to any restrictions or limitations in that respect specified in the agreement.
(4) Any person who discloses information in contravention of this section shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine of seventy-five thousand dollars and imprisonment for three years.”
TIGI noted that this clause was inserted in 1997 and its application would mean that all the information released to the public is what the oil companies now talking to Government of Guyana, want released.
The body said that it is not clear whether this applies to the contract. It has specifically asked the Government since last month to provide clarity in this regard.
“If it does, this would mean that the Minister (of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman) and the Leader of the Opposition (Bharrat Jagdeo) have not been dealing with the Guyanese public in good faith, since they would have known full well that they would be breaking the law by disclosing anything else, but never cited the law as a reason,” the body noted.
TIGI also expressed concern about the very existence of this confidentiality clause and wants to know whether it can expect to see it removed in the revised Act which is due shortly.
