Again, May 2013, the Revenue Watch Institute presents its “Resource Governance Index”, and again I have to sit there being sold the subliminal message that even in a country like mine, where the central government receives directly over 97 percent of all the countries exports, things could be fine and dandy in terms of “governance”.
Do these experts really believe that they could have a chance for any good governance in their country if their government was receiving directly over 97 percent of all their countries exports? I guess the only way to do that is to be either a communists or a radical supporter of some absolute monarchy.
The final composite score, which will make up the index that more than 99 percent will refer to, even adds up the different components without even weighing these with relation to how much the natural resource revenues means for each particular country.
Why can’t they just make a cutoff and exclude all those countries where the governments receive directly over X amount of exports or of fiscal revenue from natural resources from participating in a Resource Governance Index? If they want to cover these countries let these participate in a Resource Mis-Governance Index instead.
Do these experts not know they will be utilized by the illusionists? For instance in my country, Venezuela, it would not surprise me if the government now call upon us to celebrate the fact Venezuela has been placed, by experts, among the top third of all the countries in the world in terms of resource governance?
Why do you make our goal as oil-cursed-citizens to reclaim directly some of the oil revenues, in cash, so as to level the playing field just a little?
Don’t you understand that, as is, we citizen do not live in a nation, we live in somebody else’s good business?
Or is it you want to have a piece of “somebody else’s good business”, as an assistant to the illusionist? I pray not.
