President Dr Irfaan Ali has said that his Government wants a “partnership” with the companies now licensed to operate in the oil and gas sector.
“Leaving oil and gas in the ground is not an option,” he declared during his inaugural address to the 12th Parliament today.
“It cannot be an option when their production and sales can transform the economy of Guyana, bringing in considerable revenues that can be utilized to dramatically improve the lives of all our people,” he explained.
“We must also acknowledge that we cannot take advantage of our oil and gas resources without the considerable investment of the companies now operating in the sector. They are entitled to a fair return on their investment. Therefore, our relationship should be based on fairness, on equity and on mutual interests,” he added.
He said to support Government in managing of the oil and gas sector, the PPP/C will be pursuing various legislative and institutional initiatives.
These include to update to the Petroleum Act, building the capacity and the institutional framework for the audit of expenditure, and the drafting of new production agreements with international standards under which any new production license will fall.
He said too that his Government will introduce legislation for consideration by this session of the National Assembly.
One of the pieces of legislation will be to fortify, in law, the Local Content Policy, which is currently undergoing the phase of public consultation.
“The aim is not only to align the Policy with international best practices, particularly regarding reporting and transparency, but also to deliver more business and more jobs for our people,” the president explained.
That legislation, he said, will be drafted based on the outcome of consultations that he will hold with stakeholders in the society, concerning provisions in the law that would best serve the country’s national interest.
“Guyanese must not be second-class citizens in the oil and gas sector in our own country. They must be its principal beneficiaries, ahead of all and second to none. Thousands of Guyanese will be trained at every level to create a national corps of managers and technicians to effectively administer the sector,” he said.
President Ali noted too that for the benefit of this generation of Guyanese and those yet unborn, his government will establish an arms-length Sovereign Wealth Fund insulated from political interference.
“Legislation will be enacted to define how finances will flow from the Fund into the budget, and the purposes for which they will be used. My Government also intends to account to the nation for every cent earned from the industry and for every cent that is spent,” he assured.
To accomplish this, the legislation will be introduced during this session of the National Assembly, making the Finance Minister and the Finance Secretary responsible for publishing details of all revenue and expenditure in the Official Gazette, allowing the people to track all transactions.
Failure to do so will be punished severely under the law.
The President explained that the revenues from the sector, like all other sectors, are the peoples’ money; they are entitled to know how much money is earned, how much is spent and on what it is spent.
“I have also made it clear to my Ministers that transparency and accountability are the fundamental principles by which I expect them and myself to conduct ourselves, and to which I will hold them accountable,” President Ali posited.
