The Beal negotiations Editorial Stabroek News May 21, 2000 So the Beal deal has been signed. The criticisms have been ignored, including those which have come from quarters not in principle hostile to a contract with the company. This is unfortunate, because the agreement will in time come back to haunt both the Government and Beal itself. Perhaps the company expects that the criticisms will die away. If so, that is optimism which is probably unfounded, given the elements involved in the contractual equation. The Amerindians are certainly not going to forget their treatment, and they have an international stage on which to voice their objections, and if there are environmental problems, the environmentalists too, among others, have a world arena in which to make themselves heard. A major source of unease to a large number of Guyanese, of course, is the decision to allow the sale of the land, an unease which has not been quieted by the revelation of how little the company is going to pay for it. Since Guyana has ceded so much, and has gained so little, the grumblings will continue both locally and abroad, and that will do nothing for the image of Beal over time. Eventually, other private companies will start launching satellites, and it will begin to face competition. It would have helped its competitive edge if it could have promoted itself as having a partnership with the developing host nation, rather than a relationship which will be perceived as exploitative. In the end, though, the Government has to accept the responsibility for this fiasco. Once again it has demonstrated that it has too few negotiating skills at its disposal. Admittedly, that is no news to Guyanese who have seen it stumble into other catastrophes like the memorandum of understanding for an environmental agreement with Venezuela. But after all these years, have those in office learnt nothing? Do they still not acknowledge their own limitations in technical areas, and the need for genuine expertise when involved in negotiations? Why is it they seem unable to identify experts to help them when needed? How is it that they still appear to confuse matters of politics with issues of professionalism and skills? The United Nations and others offer assistance for negotiations of this kind, so what prevented the Government from availing itself of such assistance? Was it arrogance or ignorance? The Government will, of course, say that Mr Heyligar was on the team. True enough. And Mr Heyligar is certainly an expert in the field of taxation. However, that was only one of the areas of expertise required in these negotiations, and as it transpires, the imprimatur of the head of the Revenue Authority is nowhere to be found on the final document in any case. And then we have the strange matter of Mr Reichler's role. It was none other than the administration which recommended him to Beal to lobby the US Congress on the company's behalf. Subsequently, he was asked to facilitate the deal. Never mind that Mr Reichler already does work for a Government which would have wanted an agreement favourable to Guyana, while Beal, in contrast, would have wanted to persuade Congress on the basis of an agreement which favoured them. How could that not have been a conflict of interest situation? And in such a position, how could Mr Reichler have disinterestedly 'facilitated' the deal? What was the Government thinking of? Lack of a strong negotiating team at the very outset probably doomed the talks thereafter. The Government's weakness would have allowed the Beal negotiators to adopt an aggressive stance initially, and even if more competent people had been brought in during a later phase, it would have been too late to rescue Guyana's position since concessions would already have been made and a psychological pattern would already have been set. At the stage at which some of the clauses of the agreement became public, the options for the Government were probably to go ahead and sign, or else abandon the deal altogether. Inevitably, it chose the wrong option. All of this cannot give Guyanese much confidence in the Government's capacity to handle other sensitive negotiations - like those involving nations which have claims against us, for instance. Out on the streets of Guyana they are calling this contract the 'Beal steal.' As is often the case in such circumstances, the people are more perceptive than their Government.