In reference to the above subject, the undersigned hereby lodges a formal complaint against the Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN). I am of the firm view that the OGGN has engaged in several violations of the provisions pursuant to 501 (c) (3) status. The nature of these violations are as follows:
a) OGGN is involved in a covert political campaign in Guyana
b) OGGN is engaged in excessive lobbying activities
c) OGGN refused to disclose or provide a copy of Form 990
d) OGGN failed to report employment, income, or excise tax liability, and/or disclose this information to the public
e) I would argue that the OGGN is engaged in deceptive fundraising practices
The OGGN stated mission are to:
1. Informing and educating the Guyanese public including the more than 50% of Guyanese
who live in the Diaspora
2. Engaging in the local and international media to feature topics related to its mission
3. Advocating for transparency, accountability, and good governance by raising related concerns to international organizations and governments
Sir, as a tax paying Guyanese citizen residing in Guyana, I am extremely concerned about the work of the OGGN to the extent where I believe I can present a strong case to substantiate the series of violations I am attributing to the organization. It is rather ironic that the OGGN was formed to hold the duly elected Government of Guyana accountable, promote transparency and good governance. But the OGGN itself refused to have itself to be subjected to these fundamentals. The OGGN governance structure is unclear, its source (s) of funding are not made public, its financial information are not public, and worse, the directors claim to represent the interests of Guyanese, but have no such constituency or legal representation upon which it derives some degree of authority. Instead, all of its members and directors (a small group of persons), are in some way politically contaminated. The founders of the OGGN are not residing in Guyana, they’ve migrated many years ago to the United States. Some of them are known affiliates to political parties in Guyana, for example, Charles Sugrim is associated with the Alliance for Change (AFC) political party, Vincent Adams whose name appeared on its website, is also a known member of the AFC. The others, namely Janette Bulkan, Melandi Janki et.al, are long-standing anti-government antagonists; for decades they have a track record of being antagonists of the current PPP/C government. The formation of OGGN appears to be a cover for their covert political and anti-government agenda. To this end, there is a known publisher of a media entity in Guyana, namely, the Kaieteur News, who has launched a political campaign using his platform since 2021. The media publisher’s campaign has been aggressive with strong anti-government leanings, and the work of the OGGN are used by the media entity to support its campaign narratives. So, while OGGN may not be directly involved, it is allowing its work to be used in a manner for political purposes without their objection. I would also venture to say that it is my understanding that the principal directors of OGGN are advising the newspaper publisher and are also part of the political campaign in a major way, albeit covertly.
To substantiate this claim, hereunder are a few newspaper articles by the said media entity, wherein the OGGN’s work was given prominence and referenced authoritatively to support the publisher’s political narrative.
The OGGN’s most recent attack on the Government of Guyana was by Janette Bulkan and Andre Brandli, who both described the Government’s carbon credit sale to a U.S company, Hess, a fraudulent transaction. Bearing in mind that neither of these two individuals have any legal training or authority in law to make such pronouncements. Hereunder are a few exchanges in the local media between the OGGN directors on this subject and the undersigned.
Responses by the undersigned:
3. https://guyanachronicle.com/2023/07/04/how-could-the-sale-of-carbon-credits-befraudulent/
Response by the Government
Other articles:
The below articles were recently published wherein the undersigned challenged the legitimacy
of the OGGN followed by the OGGN’s response.
https://guyanachronicle.com/2023/07/27/is-the-oil-and-gas-governance-network-a-legitimateorganisation/.
OGGN’s response.
https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2023/07/29/oggn-is-a-public-charity-non-political-andfocused-on-maximizing-oil-and-gas-benefits-for-all/
The undersign’s final response:
In summary, the OGGN has taken a number positions that could be easily and unarguably characterized as extremism positions that are highly political within Guyana’s political landscape. Specifically, these are (1) for the cessation of oil and gas production, (2) abandonment of the Gas-to-energy project, a major transformational project for Guyana, (3) renegotiaiton of an active PSA with ExxonMobil, that is less than three years into production, ignoring the sanctity of contract and the need for investment security, and (4) an attempt to block the sale of carbon credit, inter alia, describing same as fraudulent.
Following your review of the case submitted herein and all of the foregoing articles, I wish to reiterate how worrying these developments could be, given their potential ramifcations, as a concerned tax paying Guyanese citizen.