Summary points

• Arguably, the APNU’s 20-point plan is the most comprehensive mediocre plan or policy agenda coming from a political party with decades of experience.
• Thirteen (13) (65%) out of the twenty (20) listed items, the APNU undertakes to

“review and conduct feasibility studies”.

• A commitment to review is not a plan nor a policy. It is mediocre and laziness at best.
• Their proposal to create an “Inspector General” to deal with corruption is indicative of the APNU’s concealed intention to deliberately bypass existing State institutions established pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of Guyana thereof.
• To vest and/or to transfer such functions and powers to a single, handpicked individual with the title of “Inspecter General” bears resemblance to a recipe designed to deepen corruption rather than eradicating corruption.
• Altogether, the APNU failed to present a well thought out and studied policy position on the oil and gas sector considering its shaky track record, while the party was in government. Consequently, the APNU fell short in presenting a serious and compelling case that it will indeed govern in the best interest of the people. Moreover, the lack of clarity and specificity in the party’s policies and strategies leave much to be desired.
  

Introduction

On September 25, 2024, the main opposition political party (APNU) released a “20-point plan”, or what appears to be their proposed policy for the oil and gas sector. This release came at a time when the party was under intense pressure to do so from the incumbent administration (the PPP/C Government) and sections of the mainstream media.

Arguably, having reviewed the proposals, it is the most comprehensive mediocre plan or policy agenda coming from a political party with decades of experience. In particular, thirteen (13) (65%) out of the twenty (20) listed items, the APNU undertakes to “review and conduct feasibility studies”. A commitment to review is not a plan nor a policy. It is mediocrity and indolence at best.

How could one debate a policy based on an undertaking to conduct “reviews”? Those reviews ought to have already been done, and the party should have already had their “studied” policy agenda and strategic plans for the sector and the country. This is what a serious and competent political opponent ought to have done. Instead, the Guyanese people were presented with a futile list of promises―subject to reviews.

This article addresses the remaining 35% of the APNU’s proposal in a more detailed manner.

Discussion and Analysis

At point number three (3), the APNU proposes to “eradicate corruption and unethical conduct by Government and contractor officials, we will institute an independent Inspector General’s (IG) Office with a 24/7 anonymous hotline to involve the public in reporting any knowledge or appearance of corruption. The IG office will be adequately resourced and vested with the authority to conduct independent investigations and, where necessary, recommend prosecutions.” This proposal suggests that the APNU will deliberately bypass existing State institutions established pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of Guyana, to vest and/or transfer such functions and powers to a single, handpicked individual. This is a recipe to deepen corruption rather than eradicating corruption.

Matters of corruption ought to be directed to the Guyana Police Force. It is worthwhile to note that under the APNU+AFC tenure in Government during the period 2015-2020, the Auditor General Reports uncovered a plethora of financial and procurement irregularities, misappropriation and mismanagement of public funds, none of which were adequately addressed by the APNU+AFC Government.

Accordingly, the appropriate institutions to investigate corruption, whether there are procurement irregularities and violations of the Procurement Act, other issues of fiscal mismanagement, misappropriation, or other forms of corruption, are the Auditor General’s Office, the Public Procurement Commission, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the law enforcement agencies. And ultimately, issues relating to and concerning corruption ought to be channeled through a Court of Law to be determined, as opposed to an “Inspector General”.

Proposal numbers four (4) and five (5) in respect of the environment, the Environmental Protection Act and the Petroleum Activities Act adequately provide for the protection of the environment and / or where applicable, minimize as much as possible any negative environmental impacts. In addition, there is a separate piece of legislation in the pipeline that will be exclusively tailored for “oil spills”, should there be any such occurrence.

Proposal numbers seven (7) and eight (8) speaks to “equitable distribution of the oil resources and building of capacity in the education sector, and national skills audit”. This proposal lacks specificity and fails to address what the APNU proposes to do differently in this regard. Notably, the incumbent Government is already implementing a comprehensive national plan for the education sector. This include, (i) free tertiary education by 2025; (ii) targeting over 20,000 scholarships for Guyanese students; (iii) debt write off of student loans for past and current students; (iv) introduction of new academic programs; (v) investing in the physical infrastructure to have more institutions across the country, technical and vocational training included; (vi) removal of corporate tax from the private education sector aimed at attracting more private investment in the education sector; (vii) a national labour market study has already been initiated to determine the skills and labour needs of the market, by the Ministry of Labour with support from the International Labour Organization (ILO). In fact, an updated study has already been completed of which the report is publicly available.

With respect to the APNU’s proposal on local content, during their tenure in government in the 2015-2020 period, the party failed to demonstrate their serious commitment to real local content. To this end, prior to demitting office in 2020, the APNU+AFC Government produced three (3) draft local content policies, all of which lacked tangible commitment to local content. The final draft policy that the APNU+AFC produced was the worst of three, because it stated at the outset that it is not a policy designed to target the midstream and downstream sectors and build out the in-country value chain; rather, it was strictly for the upstream sector. This means that Guyanese firms would not have been able to participate in the sector because Guyanese firms and individuals do not have the capital, knowledge, resources, technology and experience to participate in the upstream sector. Further, the APNU+AFC never intended to move to a local content legislation, which was necessary to mandate compliance from the oil companies.

Conclusion

With all the above in mind, the APNU failed to present a well thought out and studied policy position on the oil and gas sector considering its shaky track record, while the party was in government. As such, it is this author’s considered view that the APNU fell short in presenting a serious and compelling case that it will indeed govern in the best interest of the people. Moreover, the lack of clarity and specificity in the party’s policies and strategies leave much to be desired.