…unfavourable deal was a result of the circumstances of the day – AFCToday Omai Gold Mines will officially hand over the mines to the Government of Guyana,
Wholesale NFL Jerseys, ending what has been termed by Alliance for Change chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, as a decade of exploitation.From 1993 the company commenced actual extraction of gold and ended in 2005, but had to stay on for three more years to fulfill its obligations as these relate to ensuring that the site was environmentally safe given the wide scale use of cyanide.An August 1995 dam failure caused the spillage of cyanide into the Essequibo River.Omai Gold Mines Ltd, the mine’s operator,
Cheap China Jerseys, had repeatedly said that the dam was safe, but three smaller spills had already prompted calls that Guyana review its relationship with the company.Omai Gold Mines joint venture partners include Cambior Inc, Golden Star Resources, and the Guyana Government.AFC chairman,
Wholesale Jerseys China, Khemraj RamjattanDuring the more than a decade-long period, the company extracted some 3.7 million ounces of gold, paying only five per cent of that in royalties to Guyana.Among the other payments to Guyana were corporate tax and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax for the workers and the other staff.But, according to Ramjattan,
Cheap NFL Jerseys China, the contract that was signed between the government and the extraction company has to be looked at in the context of the circumstances and political environment of the day.He noted that at the time the (Desmond) Hoyte Administration did not have equal bargaining platforms.According to Ramjattan, Guyana was still in a position where there was no equal bargaining platform with major companies as it relates to investing in the country.When contacted for a comment,
jerseys cheap nfl, Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Robert Corbin said that he did not have the exact figures and terms of the contract at hand to say whether the country was exploited.He did note, however, that the deal must not only be looked at in the sense of how much royalties is paid to the government but also how much employment is generated and taxes paid on items imported among others.UNITYRamjattan noted, also, that what was also partially responsible or the terms of the adverse parts of the deal was the fact that there was no political unity when it came to negotiating a better deal, which could have possibly contributed to Guyana gaining more from it.This, he said, would be something he hoped would be done in the future, hoping that the lessons would have been learnt from the Omai deal.Ramjattan also questioned the modus operandi wherein the President would negotiate with CEOs of large companies for investments, making reference to literature emanating from the World Bank that noted that there could be some level of corruption when this takes place.He pointed to two recent negotiations that directly involved the president, the first being that Vic Oudit, former chairman of GuySuCo, was negotiating with Indian contractors to construct the new Skeldon Factory and the President pulled him and stepped in and eventually negotiated with a Chinese company. Another deal negotiated by the President was the instance where Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who was initially doing the negotiations was pulled and replaced by the president himself.Ramjattan noted that he was in no way insinuating that there was corruption involved anywhere in the negotiations but posited that in light of the World Bank literature, ‘behind the door deals’ would have prompted suspicions.He noted that in light of that assertion,
Cheap Jerseys, he was hopeful that future negotiations would involve Members of Parliament even at the committee level where there would be unity in Guyana’s terms and clauses.
