The Story Within The Story… ‘Eyepass’ of a New York Times article on Guyana

Jul 22, 2018 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

We have so many things that should get us angry daily. Like the continued bureaucracy in some Government offices. Little has changed, they say. Many of the folks under the previous administration have remained in the same place. At the housing authority, the people who everyone knew are in the same position and are again appearing so often in the newspapers, telling us what we have to do to get a house lot or a turn-key home. Nothing much has changed in this sense.

However, from my side of the desk, things have improved. I see Guyanese becoming more and more, fiercely angry and protective of this land. Is it the oil? Is it an awakening?

On Friday, this was never more evident during a discussion of a New York Times article on the coming of oil in Guyana.
The reporter, Clifford Krauss, immediately faced the wrath of Guyana. There was indignation over his description of Guyana being hopeless, with little going for it.

Krauss earlier this year travelled to Guyana to examine the feelings of ExxonMobil’s huge oil find in Guyana and the likely prospects for the country. He visited the drillships, the rice fields, the offices of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and even spoke to Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.

From it came a piece titled “The $20 Billion Question for Guyana”.

What did Krauss say that caused so much anger?  We examine a few lines with the words in bold print seeming to be the origins of the peeves:

“Guyana is a vast, watery wilderness with only three paved highways. There are a few dirt roads between villages that sit on stilts along rivers snaking through the rain forest. Children in remote areas go to school in dugout canoes, and play naked in the muggy heat.

Hugging the coast are musty clapboard towns like Georgetown, the capital, which seems forgotten by time, honeycombed with canals first built by Dutch settlers and African slaves. The power grid is so unreliable that blackouts are a regular plague in the cities, while in much of the countryside, there is no electricity at all.”

The reporter went further. He visited the Brickdam offices of Newell Dennison, Commissioner (ag) of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. This is how he described it:

“To visit the most senior oil regulator in Georgetown, one needs to climb an exterior staircase of warped wood that could sorely use a fresh coat of paint.

At the top is the tiny office of Newell Dennison, the acting head of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, whose desk is stacked high with folders beside a single metal filing cabinet. His office is spare of decorations, aside from two bouquets of artificial tropical flowers.”

Really Mr. Krauss? Really? Guyanese would have some choice words for him, “Cross” likely to surface for those that don’t use the bad words.

Sadly, the New York Times has gotten it very wrong.

I have always said it and those who have had the fortunate experience to travel, would know.

Yes, we are rated one of the poorest in this part of the hemisphere.

On the flipside, one of the richest was Trinidad and Tobago. Venezuela and Brazil too were on the rise. Where are they now?

People were leaving in droves in the 80s and 90s in search of a better life.

Today, before oil, we were indeed chugging along. The prospects are dizzying now, the pundits predict. The calculations of what Guyana is to get are there for all to see.

Krauss’ coverage paints a picture of simpletons who are backward and live in the countryside where there is no electricity.

Yes, there are pockets of places up the Mahaica Creek, and few other places and of course the hinterland areas, where there are no power.

Sadly, the picture of what Krauss painted does not depict Guyana.

We are fortunate. We have our struggling industries intact – like rice, gold, bauxite and forestry. Sugar, well we all know where that is at.

Had Mr. Krauss done his homework, he would have known that people here don’t receive food vouchers. That we are not really starving. That many families fish and farm, and the challenges of our population are that communities are scattered.

He would know we have a virtually untouched forest. He would know that there are many places in the US that are worse than Guyana. Parts of New York? Louisiana?

We don’t have people walking into schools with semi-automatics and taking the lives of our young ones.

Guyanese, while a few stay, are visiting, shopping and returning home from the US.

We are a developing country, Mr. Krauss, and though we are simple, we do have our pride.

We also thank you for giving us the opportunity to tell the world who we are and hope that you tell that side of the story too.

Mr. Krauss should tell the story of the droves of Brazilians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Canadians and of course Americans who are coming here, hoping to get a piece of the pie.

We are good friends to the US, Mr. Krauss, but we are not backward.

 

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