EDITORIAL - Avoid revisionism on Exmar deal

We understand Audley Shaw's frustration with Jamaica's failure, up to now, to decide upon and put in place arrangements for a cheaper fuel than oil for the generation of electricity.

It was a mistake, Mr Shaw insists, for the administration in which he served as finance minister not to have pressed ahead with its decision on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and honour an arrangement for the Belgium firm Exmar Corporation to build the LNG storage and regasification infrastructure.

It is Mr Shaw's contention, essentially, that the Golding government was bullied into retreat by the then contractor general, Mr Greg Christie, who found flaws in the manner in which the deal with Exmar was arrived at.

First, this newspaper, like Mr Shaw, is disappointed at the lack of progress on the energy question by Jamaica's governments - not just the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration which was in office for four years to the end of 2011.

For people who consider these things long ago concluded that expensive electricity, generated by its oil-fired power plants, is a major hindrance to the competitiveness of the Jamaican economy. Indeed, the matter of LNG has been on the national agenda for a decade before the JLP came to office - and remains there, unresolved.

But while we want the energy issue to be resolved with urgency, it must be, as it should have been in the case with the Exmar deal, done in an environment of transparency and with respect for the arrangement's maintenance of good governance.

It is against that backdrop that Mr Shaw may remember the details of the issues that caused the former administration to retreat from the deal with Exmar. And it is not the fault of Mr Christie, as nitpicking and self-righteously overbearing that many people on either side of the political divide thought him to be. Nor was it only Mr Christie who had concerns.

Mr Christie, of course, found "a lack of transparency, the absence of fairness and a glaring demonstration of impropriety and irregularity in the process" of concluding the arrangement with Exmar.

NO CONFIDENCE

But Mr Shaw should recall that before Mr Christie's probe, the prime minister, Mr Bruce Golding, had lost confidence in the handling of the LNG project by his energy minister and brought the matter within his personal purview.

Mr Golding established an LNG task force, headed by his adviser, Mr Christopher Zacca, and comprised of officials from the public and private sectors. This group had serious questions about the technical aspects of the LNG programme, and, critically, the process for arriving at Exmar as the preferred bidder on the LNG project.

Indeed, a private legal opinion obtained by that group concluded that the process "could not stand the scrutiny of legal review". They even won the support of the country's solicitor general.

Greg Christie may have sins for which to repent, but among them is not "nonsense perpetrated ... to throw us and derail" the LNG project.

Maybe it is that Exmar would still have won the bid if the process was pristine. To have allowed what happened to stand would have cast doubt on that project and further mark Jamaica as a place where rules of governance exist on paper, not to be adhered to.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.