Government’s refusal to release oil and gas data is disrespectful to the people of Guyana
I noticed in today’s paper three full-page ads in newspapers, celebrating Caribbean Statistics Day under the theme, “Leave No One Behind…Everyone Counts.” There were messages by “Senior Minister of Finance” (no longer Minister within the Presidency?), the Chairman of the Bureau of Statistics Board, and the CARICOM Secretary General. The Senior Minister said, “Government recognizes the essential role of data and statistics in informing and guiding policy and decision making and will continue to advocate stridently the further strengthening of statistical systems...” The Statistics Bureau Chair waxed eloquent quoting the World Bank which said, “… without good statistics, the development process is blind.” The chair also said, “Guyana’s new and emerging oil and gas sector also necessitates expanding our data collection and reporting systems to cover this sector…”
In light of a current review by the EITI (The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative), which the Government is likely to fail, I would like to propose to the Government to have our own “Release of All Oil and Gas, and Environmental Statistics Day: Leave no barrel of oil or EPA report behind.” Surely, the Bureau of Statistics must get busy about providing more oil and gas data as required by law. But while data and statistics exist, the Government has treated some of these as top state secrets withholding such information and refusing to release data repeatedly requested by the media, and groups such as the Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN), TIGI (Transparency Institute Guyana Inc.), and other environmental groups. It is one thing to issue nice sounding full-page ads, but deliberately refusing to release the “people’s data” on matters concerning the Guyanese people’s national interests. Requests for EPA data, some specific oil production data, what tax certificates have been issued by the Minister of Natural Resources, oil expenses and audit data, status of insurance coverage for oil spills, gas-to-shore project data, Amalia Falls project data, local content data, etc. have gone unanswered. The Government shows ongoing contempt and scant respect to those concerned Guyanese and groups requesting data.
What does the Government think the Civil Society folks would say to the EITI review team about Government’s commitment to full disclosure and release of available data on oil, gas, and the environment? What would they say to Escazu about our Government’s transparency and accountability in oil, gas, and the environment? While the PNC signed a bad secret deal for the
Stabroek Block contract, the PNC gets credit for releasing a bit more production data compared to that released by the PPP’s report. Our Government’s secrecy concerning national data does not serve the best interests of the Guyanese people, it serves the best interests of the oil companies, thus putting the Government of Guyana and Exxon on the same side versus the People of Guyana on the other side. We need to see good faith, honest efforts not full page, hypocritical ads. The Government must do better on transparency and accountability in oil and gas, and the environment. Right now it’s getting a failing grade.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall