September 26 ,2020
Leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon revealed during a virtual press conference yesterday that he wrote to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali requesting documents substantiating all agreements the government has entered into since assuming office on August 2.
Several reports in the local and international media prompted this request, Harmon told reporters.
“Every day, I’m seeing a new clip,” Harmon said, “about the president speaking, about some arrangement that they have, about catfish, about surveillance in the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), about joint patrols, a whole host of things but I am yet to see the documentation with respect to these matters. So I have written to President Ali, requiring that he favours us with a copy of all of these agreements, either verbal or in writing.”
Guyana has made multiple bilateral agreements, including with the US. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed representing the US in these agreements during his recent visit here. One agreement is purposed to advance US involvement and influence in Guyana’s energy sector, by paving the way for investment in infrastructure and market-building. The other agreement, already in force, allows for joint patrols by Guyanese and US law enforcement in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
When noting his letter to Ali, Harmon was responding to a question about the oil sector. Having just been unseated in the March 2 elections, APNU+AFC’s secretive management of the oil & gas sector in recent years is still being ventilated in the press. Harmon said that he is willing to work with this new government, but that it appears to be acting as a know-it-all government.