Inferiority Complex

Feb 06, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Many Guyanese suffer from an inferiority complex, particularly when it comes to foreigners. When a local person says something, they are ready to jump at that person’s throat and accuse him of all manner of illicit intentions.
But when a foreigner makes a pronouncement, it is treated as if it came out of the mouth of the Lord himself.
A report issued by Global Witness is creating a commotion. The report basically indicates that the government shortchanged itself in its negotiations with the oil companies. The Report estimates that Guyana may have lost as much as US$55B in revenues as a result of the deal.
The report by Global Witness is being treated as a definitive pronouncement on the deal. The fact that Global Witness is a foreign anti-corruption watchdog body has lent credibility to the view that Guyana got the rotten end of the stick in its negotiations with Exxon.
But why does anyone in Guyana need to learn this now from Global Witness. Kaieteur News and its publisher, Glenn Lall, have been pointing this out for more than two years. There is a not a day in which Kaieteur News has not exposed the fact that Guyana did not get a fair deal.
An opinion poll conducted last year found that more than 80% of the Guyanese agreed that the deal was bad. Yet, very few people were protesting what had been done. The government basically got a free pass.
But now that Global Witness has come out with its report, Guyanese are now bemoaning publicly the US$55B which the report said was lost as a result of the terms of the deal. People are holding their heads and bawling that Guyana’s wealth has been fritted away.
But is this not what this newspaper has been saying all along? Has not this newspaper done some comparisons with what other countries received and showed that we got the worst oil deal ever? Were the calculations not done to show that for the first few years of oil production, all that the country will receive will amount to two loaves of bread per person per week?
Has this newspaper not been calling for a renegotiation of the deal? Has it not pointed out the astronomical pre-contract costs and field developments costs which have to be repaid by taxpayers? Did this newspaper not reveal that Guyana is paying the income taxes of Exxon, under the deal?
Has this newspaper not exposed the shortcomings of preparing for first oil, including the last-minute negotiations to find a broker and the absence of local content legislation? And what about the lucrative natural gas which is being flared and thus polluting the environment?
Kaieteur News has been saying all of these things, all along. But up comes Global Witness and you would believe that Guyanese were unaware of about what was taking place with this deal.
The government is about to release a report to counter the one which was released by Global Witness. So how is it that the government could have undertaken a review of its deal after signing but did not see the wisdom of doing it before? Oh, I forgot! It was because of Venezuela.
Guyanese must undertake their own analyses. They must sift sense from nonsense. He who pays the piper will call the tune and therefore people have to question the objectivity of any report commissioned by an interested party. They must read both reports and judge for themselves.
And then they must decide whether it is worth the while to go into that polling station on March 2 and stain their finger with indelible ink.
Psychologists attribute inferiority complex to feelings of insecurity, threats and lack of confidence. Our inferiority complex has to do with the colonial conditioning. We have been groomed to feel that foreign is better and local in inferior.
We have also been led to believe that foreigners have superior skills. After reading the Production- Sharing Agreement with Exxon and the analyses which have been done, perhaps people will feel that we were outfoxed rather than sold-out.

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