…you’re dealt with in oil
Some folks just don’t get it. No one denies PNC’s Raphael “Nassau” Trotman sold us down the river on the oil contract he signed back in 2015. We all know about the sh*tty bonus and royalty he accepted – unlike what other countries from Africa (several nations) to Brazil. But what your Eyewitness can’t understand is why all these “experts” – presumably well-meaning and having Guyana’s interest at heart – are insisting that the PPP MUST “renegotiate” the contract.
Let’s put this in terms the ordinary Joe or Jhaat can understand. Say you have a house and you authorise your adult son to sell it. He observes all the legalities, does so for a pittance, and the transport is passed. You hit the roof when you see the crumbs he brought home. But what do you do? Can you tell the buyer you want more money? Can you go to the Courts and tell them you want to “renegotiate” the contract? Or you want to cancel the contract? The answer is you can’t!
Right now, there’s a case of a person who forged a “Power of Attorney” that purportedly gave her the right to sell a piece of land and sold the land. The actual owner found out and said to the Courts, “Hey, I never gave permission to sell my land!! I want it back!” The case goes through our High Court, Appellate Court and then the CCJ who all say, “Sorry, no can do!! It’s the law!” And the Attorney General – who was the lawyer in the matter – now says he’ll move for the law in question to be amended.
And that’s the problem with the Oil Contract, ent it? We can’t say that Trotman was an “infant” and was, therefore, incapable of signing the contract to make it “void”. He might be an “idiot” (IQ 0-25), an “imbecile” (IQ 26-50) or moron (IQ 51-75), but he certainly wasn’t under 18 years old – that would make him an “infant”! Or had a mental DISORDER which would also void the contract!
Now you may say the court should accept that the contract “ain’t fair” – and every red-blooded Guyanese, including this Eyewitness will swear to this! But this doesn’t cut any ice with the Courts. They use a concept called “equity” to deal with such claims – such as “undue influence” and “unconscionable conduct”. So, can Trotman – who insists he is a Harvard TRAINED negotiator! – prove that Exxon did the dirty on him? Truth of the matter, all that’s left for the PPP Government is “moral suasion”.
But with Exxon bleeding red, would they place Guyana’s interests ahead of their shareholders’?
Didn’t think so!
…PNC has in Parliament
The PNC is whining (not to mention “wining” in Parliament!) about what the PPP is and isn’t doing in Government. THEY, of course, had led Guyana between 2015 and 2020 to the land of milk and honey! And the PPP has just as obviously shown – in the seven months since they held off from rigging their way back into office, and more so with their pernicious Budget! – that they’re determined to take us down the road to perdition!
But what bothers your Eyewitness is that the PNC isn’t using ANY of the available mechanisms to assert their power in Parliament to upstage and eventually oust the PPP from power. Now you might say they don’t have the votes to outvote the PPP. But if they do their research they can show – with “chapter, verse and numbers” where the PPP are clueless.
Or can use the Sectoral Committees they Chair to summon any Minister or bureaucrat to query them on programmes and projects being executed.
Rather than just kvetch!
…in the ERC
Now that the lid’s been blown on the (low-down and dirty) goings-on inside the ERC, the question is, what’s the Government gonna do about it?
Like with GECOM, it gotta be a “root and branch” operation!
