Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Referendum – ExxonMobil must agree
…Editorial
Referendum Referendum
Kaieteur news- We agree with Attorney General Nandlall, that regardless of the results of a referendum on renegotiation of the oil deal that ExxonMobil has to consent to change the contract. Any change to any clause in the 2016 contract, ExxonMobil must be onboard. Minimal or negligible, ExxonMobil must sign on the dotted line of any new document to signal its agreement. There is no question, can be no pushback, over what this senior minister in the PPPC Government asserted during one of his recent programs.
There is no disputing what the AG said for it is in black and white, not a matter of opinion or imagination: “The contract itself says in about 10 clauses…that it cannot be altered unilaterally. It can only be altered with consent by both parties,” said Nandlall. Both parties must agree and that is written in stone. The national embarrassment is that one of the two parties saddled with the power to do something with the contract is balking and digging in its feet, like a stubborn mule, from taking any first step. The PPPC government refuses to come out and share in the clearest, most unequivocal, terms how much it is committed to bringing about large or small changes in the ExxonMobil contract. When the PPPC government and the man in charge of the crucial oil sector, Vice President Jagdeo, should be proud and loud to stand before all Guyanese and say this contract has to be changed, regardless of the price to be paid, both have gotten a bad case of cold feet and sweats. The cold feet of the government and Jagdeo are visible, the sweat of the oil czar gives off a powerful odor. Jagdeo is so fearful that he trembles at his press conferences, his lips quiver, and all in efforts to hedge and dodge taking a strong, straight position. So now he gets Anil Nandlall, attorney general, to do his heavy lifting and carry the load to Guyanese.
When Jagdeo has to say that he is totally for changing the ExxonMobil contract, he suddenly remembers that there is a Cabinet to discuss and debate such a decision. When Jagdeo must stand like a true oil leader, like a man of Guyana, he fidgets and retreats behind evasive words and hollow postures. When Jagdeo, the local oil king, must rail against the contract and those who foisted it upon Guyana, he very much likes the idea of being the closest bosom companion of the ExxonMobil kings in Guyana. ExxonMobil people like Alistair Routledge and his gang, who believe that they are kings, carry themselves in that manner. Routledge gave himself that crown when he realized how weak and dependent the PPPC Government and Jagdeo are, how both bow low before him.
It is easy to condemn and crush the APNU+AFC Coalition for its unpardonable role in this contract that rules supreme over Guyana. The APNU+AFC Coalition deserves every blast of scorn that could be delivered. But there is also ExxonMobil, which was the lead partner and performer in the 2016 contract dance. The government and the local oil czar slip away and slide away in the most cowardly manner from pushing ExxonMobil to talk about doing something that benefits Guyana with the 2016 contract. Jagdeo is impotent, the picture of a pitiful leader, when he must stand against that vile contract and walk on it. The first word in a first-time discussion on renegotiation is shied away from, as though personal emasculation would be the first consequence. So, Guyana’s Attorney General Nandlall gets to be the messenger: ExxonMobil must consent to any renegotiation conversation starting, any movement developing with that contract. The brutal irony is that those who use to rage against colonialism and imperialism are now the biggest cheerleaders and self-enslavers to oil imperialism.
Both Jagdeo and Nandlall choose their words cleverly so that they don’t offend ExxonMobil’s Routledge. The same can be said for President Ali and Opposition Leader Norton. When Guyanese need local oil warriors, they get local oil deserters. Push renegotiation into ExxonMobil’s (Routledge’s) face and let Guyanese see for themselves who is a real partner or who is the worst and least in such a relationship.
(Referendum – ExxonMobil must agree)
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