GRATITUDE TO KAIETEUR NEWS – MINISTER GASKIN STOP BLUFFING PLEASE

Jan 20, 2018 Letters

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Mr. Editor,
First and foremost, let me heartily congratulate you, Mr. Lall, Mr. Freddie Kissoon, Ms. Kiana Wilburg, Ambassador Ron Sanders, and all the other Kaieteur News columnists (except Peeping Tom), staff and other collaborators, who have forced the Government of Guyana to listen to Kaieteur News’ nationalistic admonishments about that oil giant and international exploiter of the mineral wealth of so many poor countries, ExxonMobil.
Let me congratulate Kaieteur News for having brought this obstinate donkey, the APNU-AFC government, to the well of wisdom; this APNU-AFC regime, with its several arrogant Ministers, chief among them Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who has had the mind-boggling audacity to arrogantly declare that he is “not obliged to share” public sector information with the people of Guyana, who pay his handsome salary and incredible perks.
They pay for his comfortable travels on Virgin Atlantic.
Thank you, Kaieteur News, for having forced this donkey to drink a little from this well of wisdom. Thank you, Mr. Lall and Mr. Editor, Adam Harris, for getting this donkey to drink at least some of the waters of this refreshing well, lest they end up having to drink Liza Block stale oil instead.
I voted for that donkey, to remove the PPP monkey, off our bruised and battered backs, but look how it has so quickly begun to frustrate me with its stupid, suicidal and exasperating stubbornness.
The arrogance of Minister Jordan is particularly unnerving, and it is no surprise, seeing that he spent his entire life under the tutorship of Lord Jagdeo.
In the meantime, let us wait and see how long it will take President Granger to publicly thank Kaieteur News for having warned his donkey about ExxonMobil. I hope the President can remember that this is the same Kaieteur News that fought, tooth and nail, to get rid of Guyana’s murderous PPP monkey! Today, thanks to Kaieteur News, everybody is now talking of preparations to properly manage the emerging oil industry of Guyana.
Hooray! as we used to say in decades past in Essequibo.
In the meantime also, let us not continue to play the same old games with the people of Guyana. We had enough of games, thievery, treachery, corruption, officially sanctioned murders, massacres, etc., for more than 23 years, between 1992 and 2015. We are tired of the crap!
The Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, recently assured the media that the Government of Guyana has paid attention to the various lessons learned around the world regarding the dealings of ExxonMobil in numerous countries.
He promised that Guyana would walk a different path from so many countries that had been severely mistreated and mauled by the oil giant. Of course, “mistreated” and “mauled” were not his words. Actually some of his exact words were: “…we have had some worry in the sector that Guyana’s inexperience in this industry may lead to it getting the short end of the stick.
“But I would like to say that I don’t think that is going to happen. There are a number of interventions that are being made and measures that are being put in place to ensure that Guyana and Guyanese are the main beneficiaries of all that is taking place offshore.”
One of the first things people must look for when listening to government officials, is their exaggeration and grandiose talk. This is the tool to know whether they are being sincere with the people, or whether they’re only shooting off hot air in vain attempts to appease the people, and to put the people off guard.
As regards development in the oil industry, Minister Gaskin is already engaging in the use of lies and insincerity, when he says that: “Guyana and Guyanese” will be “the main beneficiaries of all that is taking place offshore.” Where in the world have the people of any nation been the “main beneficiaries” of the work of ExxonMobil in the exploitation of their mineral resources?
Nowhere in the world has this ever happened! If Guyana and the people of Guyana would be the “main beneficiaries” of Exxon’s work in Guyana’s oilfields, ExxonMobil would never set up shop in Guyana. So, Minister Gaskin must not engage in this insincere chit-chat, this unrealistic, foolish talk, as if he thinks all Guyanese are fools.
Instead Minister Gaskin should advise the Government of Guyana to do the following four things, and hopefully, he may then be able to talk of having a positive legacy in the development of the Guyanese oil industry, that his children, grand-children and great grand-children would be happy to boast about tomorrow:

Advise President Granger to instruct Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge, to stop behaving as if he is a spokesman for ExxonMobil. Minister Greenidge has very strangely and inappropriately reacted very badly and negatively to Kaieteur News’ noble and dutiful work to warn the Government and people of Guyana about ExxonMobil’s terrible reputation around the world, in matters of oil exploration and commercialization.
That powerful corporation has access to dozens of Exxon-friendly news agencies, reporters and correspondents, all around the world, who have said not a word in response to Kaieteur News’ nationalistic attitude, understanding as they do that KN is only performing its duty for Guyana and for the people of Guyana.
Minister Greenidge, amazingly, for some weird reason, does not understand this. How can ExxonMobil ever have any respect for our Foreign Minister with this “House Slave” attitude?
ExxonMobil officials must be secretly laughing at him. By extension also, how will ExxonMobil respect the other Members of Cabinet, who are all of lesser political and professional pedigree in matters of development than Minister Greenidge?
Advise President Granger that the travel costs, hotel accommodation costs and subsistence expenses for all Guyanese delegations, to any and all investment and business development meetings with ExxonMobil, and its affiliates, must be paid for by the Government of Guyana.
Any investor, who pays for your delegation’s travels and other costs for meetings at home and abroad, is automatically in the driver’s seat in subsequent negotiations and discussions, because Ministers and other government officials feel that their participation has been subsidized by the investor. This is common sense and basic psychology, and the practice of the sponsorship by foreign investors of the travel and other costs of our Government officials must cease immediately. Let us stop being penny-wise and pound-foolish in our work for the development of our country.
Advise President Granger that the same Kaieteur News which single-handedly stood up to the power of the PPP leviathan, is the same Kaieteur News that is still carrying the torch of national liberation, and that will speak truth to power forever, no matter the colour of the Party in power in Guyana.
Advise President Granger that while I am disappointed in my donkey, I still have faith that it will not continue to metamorphose in such a manner that it soon becomes indistinguishable from the PPP monkey. There is yet time for the APNU-AFC government to get its act together.
Sasha Persaud

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