A bad deal is a bad deal regardless who is in power — Int’l Lawyer, Melinda Janki

Oct 26, 2021 News

“If there is anybody in Guyana who thinks that Guyana got a good deal, let them say so loud and clear,” – Melinda Janki

Kaieteur News – Since ‘first oil’, in December 2019, the cost of living has gone up and the majority of people in Guyana are poor. This is the view held by International Lawyer and Environmental Activist, Melinda Janki, who is of the view “oil is making them poorer, not richer.”

International Lawyer and Environmental Activist, Melinda Janki

The international lawyer in a recent public missive reminded that Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) had complained that the oil sector is ill-treating Guyanese workers and hiring foreigners for jobs that Guyanese can do.
She noted that more than six years after the discovery of oil and the promises of vast wealth, people are still hoping for a decent job, “in contrast, Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil earned US$15.6M (roughly G$3.2bn) last year.”
She used the occasion to remind too that everybody knows that the government and the oil companies are subject to the rule of law. “People also know that the Constitution (Article 149J) requires the State to protect the environment for present and future generations.”

Incumbent Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo

To this end, the International Lawyer questioned, “if there is anybody in Guyana who thinks that Guyana got a good deal, let them say so loud and clear.”
She reminded that in December 2018, the then Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, had said of the APNU+AFC Coalition, “our incompetent government trudged in there unprepared and stuck us with a contract that would harm us for decades into the future. They sold our patrimony…”
But according to Janki, “a deal that sold our patrimony and would harm Guyana for decades does not magically become a good deal because there is a different government.”
She used the occasion to remind too that, “the oil/gas sector is notorious for peddling lies.”
Next week Darren Woods, ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Officer, must appear before the US Congress Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Environment, to answer questions about Exxon and its disinformation about fossil fuels and global warming.

ExxonMobil CEO, Darren Woods

According to Janki, “In 1982, Exxon scientists privately predicted that burning fossil fuels would raise the temperature of the earth. In public, Exxon denied it. Exxon’s lobbyist, Keith McCoy, recently admitted that Exxon relied on “shadow groups” to fight government efforts to address climate change.
Woods will be joined by other oil industry executives and, according to Janki, “given the blatant documented dishonesty in the oil sector, Guyanese people are increasingly skeptical of pro-oil statements.”

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