Visit Diaspora and stop hiring foreign oil experts – Dr. Vincent Adams
Former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Vincent Adams
Kaieteur News – Former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams, believes that if the country’s integrity is to remain protected, Guyana should stop hiring foreign experts and instead seek all the consultants it desperately needs. Diaspora.
Dr. Adams made these and other comments in a Moray House Trust virtual discussion called Guyana’s Oil: Priorities for 2021. There, the former EPA Director reminded listeners of the pressing need for a National Strategic Plan, which would map which plans and goals the government hopes to achieve from the expected inflow of oil revenue. And one of those plans should, Dr. Adams, include using the Guyanese Diaspora.
“We have this so-called brain drain. But we should use this opportunity as a benefit to the brain. I know we probably have more Guyanese in the Diaspora than we have in Guyana, ”says Dr. Adams added, “but you can find every job needed in Guyana, consultant et cetera, [which could be filled by a] Guyanese in the Diaspora who can do it better than the other foreigners. “
He went on to add, “You know we still have, and it’s sad to say, this colonial mentality, where we think anything that comes aboard the ship, as long as it’s not our people, then that’s what we need to go. with, ”while weighing up the need for this mindset to change.
Dr. reminded Adams says these consultants are just “hired guns” here to seize an opportunity, “make a few bucks” and then leave. “They don’t care about Guyana.”
He believes, however, that Guyanese in the Diaspora still have their country at heart and have the potential to contribute “overwhelming” value to Guyana.
The former EPA criticized the previous government A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC), and now the current People’s / Civic Progressive Party (PPP / C) administration for failing to implement a Diaspora action plan. He recalled that a plan was developed some years ago, but he never saw the light of day.
“We must start taking Diaspora participation seriously. They can add a lot of value, a phenomenal value to Guyana’s development, ”he concluded.
Controversial hire
Intentional advice comes from Dr. Adams on the heels of a series of controversial hirings made by past and present governments.
In fact, Kaieteur News reported on controversial Canadian adviser Alison Redford, who had been the team head for the review of the US $ 9B Payara Field Development Plan. She was due to review the work already undertaken by the consultant employed by the former David Granger administration on the project, Bayphase Oil & Gas Consultants. That company is a client of ExxonMobil and some of its subcontractors have raised concerns over conflicts of interest.
Scandal plagued Redford’s previous political career. As Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta, she sparked widespread public debate in Canada when it was discovered that, during her presence at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, the State had borne the cost of CAD $ 45,000 for her trip, including about CAD $ 10,000 for a private charter. fly back from South Africa. Redford allegedly refused several calls to repay the money spent for the South African tour, but bowed to pressure in 2014 and returned the money to the public purse, along with an apology.
Redford had announced her resignation in March 2014 as Alberta Premier, and as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in August, a day before the Attorney General’s (AG) report on her spending habits was due to be released.
The RE report found that she and her office had “used public resources inappropriately;” “Used public assets (aircraft) for personal and party purposes” and that Redford “is part of a plan to convert public space in a public building into personal living space.”
The AG, in short, decided that Redford was abusing its power and fostering a culture of entitlement. A month after the Government approved the Payara project, which was reviewed by Redford, Kaieteur News discovered that, like Bayphase, she appeared to have had a conflict of interest in carrying out her review.
In addition, Elections Alberta, the independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly in Canada, maintains records of donations made to political parties.
According to its data, Redford’s party, the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (PCA), received donations from Exxon’s subsidiary called Imperial Oil over many years, while she was a member.
In the time the donations were received, Redford moved up rapidly in the PCA, eventually becoming the leader and Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta. Donations to the party, since Redford became active in the party, up to the months after she left politics, were almost CAD $ 70,000.
Before Redford was hand-selected to review Payara’s FDP, the Coalition had awarded the contract to the UK-based company, Bayphase Oil and Gas Consultants.
Kaieteur News had reported, however, that the company was not only a client of ExxonMobil, but even several of its main contractors working in Guyana. In fact, Bayphase is contracted by NEXEN, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in Hong Kong and also works for Exxon subcontractors including Schlumberger and Technip FMC. Not only that. This paper had also shown that Bayphase gave no flawless reports to its clients.
In addition, the coalition hired US Law firm Hunton Andrew Kurth to review Guyana’s ancient petroleum legislation. But that company shared a solid relationship with ExxonMobil spanning 40 years.
The $ 1.2 million US bill was about to be funded by the World Bank – the right financial institution, which pledged not to fund oil and gas industry-related activities. An article by The Guardian revealed that Hunton Andrews Kurth has operated for ExxonMobil for 40 years, stating that he has worked on several causes for the oil giant, some of them in relation to climate impacts.
It was only after Kaieteur News made this exposure that the company revealed it had dropped the contract to rewrite Guyana’s outdated laws.
Finally, the UK Consultant, Dr. Michael Warner, selected to complete the current draft Local Content Policy. This newspaper would have revealed, on numerous occasions, Dr. Warner with ExxonMobil, as well as the fact that he has never produced a policy for any country independently. It had also removed key provisions that put Guyanese first.