Since it is a long document and hard to handle (it's two images, not a text file), I will do my best to talk Homeport intro translating this one!
If he can help, I think what we really need is a good translation of the very last paragraph concerning, ERHC, which - if I understand it correctly - says signing the ERHC awards had nothing to do with the personalities involved and now cannot be avoided because of the "disastrous agreements" signed by the government of President Miguel Trovoada that gave ERHC the rights it has now.
To read either document, right click on either image and select "Open Link in New Window."
Update Here is Homeport's take on it, for which we're most grateful:
The Open Letter Joe has provided us is the clearest confirmation yet I have seen that ERHC lies at the center of the current impasse and political infighting over block awards in STP.
No party seems to be defending ERHC´s treaty-bound rights.
BUT in contrast to the two government parties - the MLSTP-PSD and Trovoada's ADI, President Fradique de Menezes and his political allies, in this case the secretary-general of the opposition MDFM/PL, Tome Vera Cruz, take a pragmatic, if fatalistic, stance that there's nothing left to do but accept the existing commitments and move forward with the awards.
As Joe rightly points out, the key comment comes in the last graf, where Vera Cruz blames the "disastrous accords" on past leaders of the MLSTP and immediate past President Miguel Trovoada, the father of ADI´s current chief, Patrice, who was sacked as presidential oil adviser last weekend.
Vera Cruz explains that a contested and later aborted oil accord he signed as minister in 2004 with the ENERGEM company has "nothing to do with the ones, you (MLSTP) gentlemen, signed with ERHC."
"We will make the effects" of the agreement with ERHC "public when the blocks are awarded and ERHC exercises the rights that you gentlemen through your disastrous accords granted that company," writes de Menezes' ally, Vera Cruz.
STP´s "people will know the truth because they will learn how many millions of dollars the country will not receive due to the contracts signed by you."
Now that's a VERY interesting comment. Thanks for finding and sharing it, Joe!
Bests,
Homeport
Open Letter to MLSTP/PSD
This "Open Letter to the MLSTP/PSD" forcefully rejects the charges and allegations of that two-party coalition, which holds the majority in Sao Tome's Parliament, and makes a case for President Fradique de Menezes' approval of the Joint Development Authority block awards.
9 comments:
I have bad eyes. I can't read it.
The Open Letter, Joe has provided us, is the clearest confirmation yet I have seen that ERHC lies at the center of the current impasse and political infighting over block awards in STP.
No party seems to be defending ERHC´s treaty-bound rights.
BUT in contrast to the two government parties - the MLSTP-PSD and Trovoada's ADI, President Fradique de Menezes and his political allies, in this case the secretary-general of the opposition MDFM/PL, Tome Vera Cruz, take a pragmatic, if fatalistic, stance that there's nothing left to do but accept the existing commitments and move forward with the awards.
As Joe rightly points out, the key comment comes in the last graf, where Vera Cruz blames the "disastrous accords" on past leaders of the MLSTP and immediate past President Miguel Trovoada, the father of ADI´s current chief, Patrice, who was sacked as presidential oil adviser last weekend.
Vera Cruz explains that a contested and later aborted oil accord he signed as minister in 2004 with the ENERGEM company has "nothing to do with the ones, you (MLSTP) gentlemen, signed with ERHC."
"We will make the effects" of the agreement with ERHC "public when the blocks are awarded and ERHC exercises the rights that you gentlemen through your disastrous accords granted that company," writes de Menezes' ally, Vera Cruz.
STP´s "people will know the truth because they will learn how many millions of dollars the country will not receive due to the contracts signed by you."
Now that's a VERY interesting comment. Thanks for finding and sharing it Joe!
Bests,
Homeport,
Do you think it means anything in regards to a timeline? To me it sounds like everyone is accepting it as a done deal and that they'll be moving forward soon. But I have to admit, that's what I WANT it to mean so my opinion is tainted. I'd like to hear your views.
-Ken
Ken,
What are the alternatives? All that has come out of these articles have been accusations and 'buyers remorse'. The treaty is what it is and if Sao Tome is going to take the next step, these agreements they have or will make with other countries must be upheld. Looking a few years down the road must be hard for a country so poor and in debt - however the sooner someone finds oil in the JDZ, they will be enjoying the fruits of the tax revenue stream.
The alternative....another fortnight
The thing that is amazing to me is they act as if they have just discovered what ERHC's treaty rights were. If they had a real problem with it and felt it could have been overturned then they should have demanded this "prior" to the second licensing round.
Why wait until "after" the licensing round has been completed? Why try to throw away months of hard work by both countries? All they are doing is delaying the inevitable and delaying oil revenues to their own country. It makes them look foolish.
If they had a problem with this they should have made noise about it a year ago. Not now.
They also seem very ungrateful for all the work that ERHC has brought to the table. If it wasnt for ERHC, Sao Tome wouldnt be looking at any oil revenues in the first place. They are the ones that did all the leg work and took the risk. And thus should be justly rewarded.
ERHC needs to again be challenged in the international court for their criminality! They knowingly took advantage of a country with no prior experience, and collaborated with the then President Miguel Trovoada who greedily accepted money, and additional shares of ERHC under the table. He basically turned his back on his people. Shame on him and his son for their ruthless and thoughtless actions!
STP is a tiny, familial country where everyone knows everyone. What he did is stab his STP family in the back! It's criminal.
Anonymous @ 11:27...buy some shares and get over it.
That's Mongo.
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