Dear Editor,
In the Accountability Watch article of November 13, 2017, I had stated that the United States withdrew from the membership of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) on the grounds that “domestic implementation of the EITI Standard will conflict with the U.S. legal framework”. The decision to quit the EITI followed a long lobbying battle waged by the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil and Chevron against the disclosure of payments to governments.
Earlier in the year, President Trump had signed a congressional resolution repealing the Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring oil, gas and mining companies to publish the payments they make to governments. According to Bloomberg News, the decision “may undercut the effort that aims to give citizens and watchdogs in poor but mineral-rich nations details on how much their government leaders get in taxes, royalties and lease payments. With that information, they can ensure the money is spent on roads and schools, not squirreled away in foreign bank accounts”.
On December 11, 2017, the Stabroek News reported the Exxon Country Manager as having stated that ExxonMobil is a member of EITI. However, only countries, not entities within a country, can accede to the membership of the EITI. The oil giant, however, sits on the EITI board as an industry representative and contributes to the financing of the EITI. It is therefore inconsistent, indeed a conflict of interest, for ExxonMobil to have an association with the EITI when in the first place it played a significant role in the United States’ decision to withdraw from the membership of the EITI. Under US law, companies in the extractive industries are no longer required to disclose their payments to countries.
A clarification from the ExxonMobil Country Manager will be most welcome.
Yours faithfully,
Anand Goolsarran
Demerara River Bridge, Ministry of Citizenship digitising of records among projects that raise serious concerns
Dear Editor, The world is aware that I have been suspended from the National Assembly and that I cannot ask questions or participate in the scrutiny of the 2018 Estimates of Expenditure.
Senior public officials should send Christmas greetings to one another not the nation
Dear Editor, The extension of greetings to the Guyanese religious communities on the occasions of religious events of deep significance can be expected from politicians and political parties as routine public relations; patronizing interventions with the aim of scoring political points, however cheap.
The US$18M was not in an escrow account
Dear Editor, In the news article ‘President says he took decision on placing US$18m at BoG’ (SN online, December 13) President David Granger has taken full responsibility for the US$18M ExxonMobil signing bonus not being placed in the Consolidated Fund claiming that the money was in escrow for national security emergency reasons.
The government and opposition should co-operate
Dear Editor, This letter is an appeal to both my government and the opposition to take their roles seriously.
GAWU has never claimed that sugar industry’s workforce is largely Indo-Guyanese
Dear Editor, Head of the sugar Special Purpose Unit (SPU), Mr Colvin Heath-London in an article entitled ‘GuySuCo operating in rogue manner’ which appeared in the Guyana Chronicle of December 7, 2017 is reported to have said “…unlike what GAWU and the PPP want others to believe, the sugar industry is not wholly an Indo-Guyanese sector”.