Time for the Sanctity of Contract Circus to come to an end

(Kaieteur News) – President Irfaan Ali recycles the argument so often that it is now official doctrine: the 2016 Stabroek Block Petroleum Agreement is a bad deal for Guyana, but “sanctity of contract” prevents renegotiation. In his recent Al Jazeera interview, Ali again asserted the Agreement was bad and the companies benefitted more, yet continued to invoke sanctity as though that answered the issue.

Ali knows no serious critic is suggesting Guyana should renege on the Agreement. Reneging means refusing to honour a contract; renegotiation means asking the other parties to agree to different terms. If they agree, the amended agreement becomes the contract to be honoured. Ali’s conflation of the two is not merely mistaken but disingenuous. It turns a lawful request for better terms into an accusation of contractual dishonour and smacks of evasion.

Guyana cannot compel renegotiation or impose an amendment unilaterally. But it can ask. The contractors may refuse. What remains difficult to explain is why the Ali Administration refuses to ask.