America’s oil security vs Guyana’s prosperity

May 31, 2023 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News- I begin with two little questions with big meanings for groundwork. First, what does American oil security hold for Guyanese prosperity? Then, what do the implications of ExxonMobil’s prosperity mean for Guyana’s democracy? Now, I proceed to the facts on the ground, as written or said; I weigh their significances for Guyanese, and the continuity of this society as a country.
In doing so, there is one eye focused on what is going on in neighbouring Trinidad, a Republic once the envy of this region, and the chills come when there is contemplation of what it has come to, how far degraded. Finally, there is an ear cocked attentively (and sympathetically) at what is going on in more distant Haiti, and the chaos to which that country and its peoples have descended, cope with, must survive somehow.

In terms of securing a sliver of not insignificant proportions for American oil security, the US Ambassador weaved her magic well. She had history on her side, and the help of her CIA handlers. The former was of the weakness, as compiled, of people in woebegone societies like Guyana via the special awe in which they behold powerful individuals of Caucasian descent. The natives may curse behind their hands, but in public, they are dutiful and respectful, if not outright worshipful. In two words: inferiority complex. With reference to the latter, the political class in Guyana is of the most wretched, villainous, traitorous class to be found anywhere. Bluntly, Guyanese politicians wouldn’t be a problem; throw them a penny, and they will punish their people. Like Duvalier, Noriegaand Pinochet, they would sell critics and countrymen into slavery (or as ritual sacrifices). Check it out Guyana.
Regarding politicians and people, the Caucasians could be taking away their bread, and the locals would still beg the exploiters to help themselves to some more of that scarce commodity. This is what is happening in today’s poor Guyana: the one commodity in sufficient quantity that is almost guaranteed to lead to solid prosperity of Guyanese, they let their ancient acrimonies get the better of them.
The foreigners do not have to lift a finger in defence of their brigandage; they have battalions of Guyanese ready to do that for them. Does Ms. Lynch or Mr. Routledge do anything anymore, or do Guyanese not crawl all over one another to do whatever dirty job that has to be done? I give fawners with PhDs, JDs, MDs, DDs, and I wonder if they are either pathological frauds, or suffer from that peculiar desolation that visits the depraved.
Zeroing in on the Yanks, it was the Ambassador herself who spoke fealty to the rights of national sovereignty, and the power that it vests in Guyana for contract renegotiation. The honourable one went from something to the effect about noninvolvement (several years ago) to clapping daintily about Guyana’s kneeling at the altar of ‘sanctity of contract’ (several months back).
The US President wants more from his own oil companies, but the US Ambassador has her own page where Exxon and Guyana are involved. She is all for American economic security, but on Guyana’s prosperity, the diplomat now has reservations. Guyanese see her for what she is, which explains her falling star.
When he used to be in his more John Hessian mode, Alistair Routledge waxed Shakespearean about how the 2016 contract was the best revenue stream ever for Guyana. Now, would a mere mortal like me dare to accuse an immortal like the man from Exxon to be a liar? Not I, Lord. Put differently, what Herr Routledge said boiled down to this: Guyanese have never seen so much money as this, and for that alone, they should be on their knees in thanksgiving. If that was not a slur with a curious colourful slant, then nothing ever will be one. The reality is that for every billion that Guyana gets from its patrimony, Exxon collects 10 or 15 times more. And that is accounting for only those items on the books. But they tell me that is contract sanctity. I call it what it is: thievery, slavery, poverty. Look who gets, look how many Guyanese don’t know what they get.
The beauty for Alistair Routledge is that he lifts an eyelash, and Guyanese strip naked for him: dignity, intellect, integrity.
Men trot out spreadsheets, Indian supremacists dig up ancient grievances, attorneys make a show of arguing, and politicians do a 100-meter dash to the court. These can never be democracy in action.
These are the political and national bondages that have always been inseparable from colonialism and imperialism; and, come to think of it, capitalism and communism, too.
Thinking of all this, I recall where Trinidad was once poised.
Today, the gangs run amok, the vulnerable run for cover. As always, political players whistle to the bank. This is what Ambassador Lynch sold us, it is what we reap. Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines once reared up, and the blood flowed. The blood still flows in the streets of Haiti today. Don’t mess with the White man’s security and prosperity. He will take away democracy, sanity, then anatomy.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• American economic security, Exxon, GHK Lall, Guyana

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