Parents and Children of Guyana, what would you do?

Jan 23, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Once upon a time lived three guys next to each other. They all had lots of mango trees. The first neighbour had fruit in abundance that was easy to get to. A stranger came and would buy from him, but they got into a disagreement and he stopped buying from him. He then went to the next two guys who also had mango trees, but with less fruit that was a bit more difficult to get to.

He arranged to buy from one of them for a lower price and the other for a higher price. Another buyer heard of the arrangements and decided to come to buy. When he told the seller who was getting a lower price what was happening, the seller got upset, but didn’t ask for more from the first buyer. Everyone in his house was upset that he didn’t confront the buyer who was giving him a lower price than his neighbour.

They asked him why he didn’t confront the buyer. He said, “I don’t want to upset him and we already have an agreement”. This puzzled his family, because there were other buyers who could also pick the fruit and give him a better price. The family did not know what to do. Should they stay with the buyer who was giving them the lower price for their mangoes, should they ask the buyer to change the agreement to match the higher price being received by their neighbour, or should they change the buyer and sell to the new buyer who was going to give them a better price? What would you do?

Parents of Guyana, now imagine that the mangoes were our oil and the neighbours were Venezuela and Suriname. Venezuela was the first seller who fell out with the buyer and Suriname is the neighbour who got a better price. Most oil deals have a royalty range of 10% to 20%. Guyana gets 2%. Should Guyana stay in the current agreement with Exxon, should we renegotiate with Exxon or should we change to another buyer such as British Petroleum? What would you do? The choice we make as a Guyanese Family will affect our Family’s future. The government must listen to the will of the Guyanese people and take action.