No referendum on ExxonMobil contract next year – Jagdeo

Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 October 2024, 21:14 by Writer

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday ruled out the holding of a popular vote alongside next year’s general elections on whether the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between Guyana and ExxonMobil should be renegotiated.

“It might be something that we may want to do but I don’t want to complicate the 2025 elections…by talking about referendum now,” he said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

At the same time, he said if that question has to be put to a referendum there would have to be discussions and debate rather than leaving these up to the head of a political party.

Mr Jagdeo said the renegotiation of the PSA could be an election campaign issue, even as he reflected on his People’s Progressive Party Civic’s 2020 election campaign position that there would have been no negotiation of that contract. He said Guyanese voted his party into office and his administration secured more benefits such as the gas-to-energy project that would eventually save the country US$460 million annually.

He feared that adding other things on the ballot could complicate voting with the choice of a government, and allow for the opposition to engage in other “shenanigans”.

The opposition People’s National Congress Reform’s recently-released 20-point plan on the oil and gas sector calls for obtaining ExxonMobil’s consent to renegotiate the PSA, something the company has ruled out.