President Ali disappointedly betrayed the nation with his assent to the Oil Pollution Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Responsibility Bill (the Bill), ignoring the numerous troubling concerns and forebodings brought to his attention by eminent Guyanese, Caribbean and other international experts including a scathing rebuke by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association citing the Government for breaches of international commitments such as the Escazu Agreement, UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, and the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Instead, the President abdicated to the ignorance and disloyalty of Attorney General (AG) Nandlall, who, by his own undisguised words, made it crystal clear of his only motive to overthrow Judge Kissoon’s decision which checked the PPP/C Government’s attempt to remove the requirement for unlimited financial Assurance enshrined by the Coalition. Though the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico costed $145B USD, nearly 30 times Guyana’s national budget, the PPP/C sought to callously slash this unlimited amount, capping it at $2B which was nixed by the Judge, thus saving Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean from a potential environmental “calamitous disaster” and financial bankruptcy in case of an oil spill.
In no uncertain terms, the veteran Honourable Judge Kissoon described the Coalition’s Permit requirement for unlimited liability as “expressed in clear unambiguous terms” and “such a course of action to violate the permit is made permissible only by a derelict, pliant and submissive EPA which has descended into a state of slumber at the critical juncture of an emerging oil sector and has, at every juncture, engaged in a course of action to undermine and erode the terms and conditions of its own permit”; and that “The government is submissive and relegated itself to a state of laxity and abdicated its responsibilities, thereby putting this nation and its people in grave potential danger of calamitous disaster”.
This stern public scolding of the PPPC for its “submissiveness” and sellout to Exxon has ever since tormented Nandlall, so, he looked for a way to exact revenge. He first fought tooth and nail against Guyana in going all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice to be allowed to conjoin Exxon in appealing the Judge’s Decision. However, realizing he won’t stand a ghost of a chance in the courts; and that his sellout of Guyana will be on the ballot at the upcoming elections, he resorted to abusing the powers of the Legislative Branch to satisfy his aim pellucidly expressed by his own words in Parliament.
Nandlall’s undisguised words of Contempt for the Judiciary
Nandlall’s naked motive to nullify the Judicial Branch could not have been made any clearer than by his own unmistakable words in Parliament when, in defending the Bill, he said:
● “Must we allow decisions to remain on record
that doesn’t make sense in law”;
● “Must we be allowed to remain frustrated by an
ill-informed decision by court”;
● “It would been highly responsible to leave that
decision on the public record”; and
● “That decision distorts the law of the country”
It is shocking that this AG seems to be either ignorant of the Constitution’s separation of powers of the Judicial, Legislative and Executive Branches of Government; or, he is just hell bent on imposing the authoritarian behaviour of the PPP/C. Regardless, such action inflicts a troubling assault on the democracy of Guyana via the PPP/C’s skin of the teeth single seat majority emasculating the Judiciary by fiat of the party to not only start with the overthrow of this ruling, but sets a dangerous precedent of doing same for all future Court decisions they don’t like.
Nandlall’s Incoherence and confusion arguing with himself
In his weekly diatribe to defend the bogus Bill, Nandlall incoherently and confusingly argues with himself, being both for, and against “unlimited liability” coverage. If it sounds too unbelievable to be true, judge for yourselves when he emphatically says:
● “The Bill does not limit liabilities, no limit and cap on liability at
all, none”; and
● “We said no! No cap on liability,none! Where ever the damage
flows, liability runs with the dam age”.
Less than 10 minutes afterwards, he spun heads with the asininity that:
● “We don’t put a cap but it cannot be unlimited”; and
● “There is no such thing as unlimited liability”
Is this for real that our supposed learned AG does not comprehend the simple English language that “no limit” or “no cap” means the same as “unlimited”!
As if that was not enough to have a good laugh, the man went on to passionately argue with himself that “we deliberately kept the Parent Company Guarantee (PCG) in place” to ensure no limit nor cap. How could this be described as anything but doltishness, since the PCG is explicitly defined the same as “unlimited liability” in both the Permits and in Judge Kissoon’s ruling. In other words, this man is stupidly arguing with himself, saying that he is in favour of the PCG which means ‘unlimited liability”, but against “unlimited liability”. It is embarrassingly obvious that this supposed learned AG either did not read the permits or the Judge’s Decision; or, he does not understand what he reads – Po Guyana!
The foregoing has made it obvious why Nandlall has gone into hiding from my challenge for a public debate with him on this Bill. Now that I understand why, I would still love for him to provide a substitute such as VP Jagdeo.
Sincerely,
Dr. Vincent Adams
