The Vice President – a proven hero for Exxon

Jun 07, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – If ExxonMobil searched the world, it could not find a better chief counsel than Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of this small, poor nation called Guyana. In fact, Exxon hit this rarest of rare human resource bonanza in that it got two for one in the presence of Supremo Jagdeo.

The company not only got a matchless lead counsel, it also got an unequalled public relations guru in Guyana’s Vice President. Having hit it huge with our oil prize, Exxon came in for the additional bonus of another gold medal: the top Guyanese political leadership prize of Bharrat Jagdeo.
We say this because on each occasion that Vice President Jagdeo open his mouth, there is very little that he says that favours the interest of Guyana. Rather, Mr. Jagdeo goes the other way, and speaks mouthful after mouthful in advocacy of, on behalf of, in support of, this American oil behemoth, ExxonMobil.

Truth be told, when the record is examined, it is noted that for every word that Mr. Jagdeo utters about Guyana, he has a round dozen more to articulate about Exxon, or ‘the company’, or the ‘investor(s)’, or some other such camouflage expression. When this nation’s Vice President ought to be committed heart and soul, body and spirit, to wage war for the Guyanese people, he instead puts on his armour, straps on his helmet, pulls on his jackboots, and brandishes his sword in the endless and ruthless warfare that he declares against Guyana, and all under the flag of the company called Exxon. Dr. Jagdeo is a better soldier for the company than Darren Woods. Mr. Jagdeo is more passionate for Exxon than Alistair Routledge, the company’s resident Viceroy in this backwater place.

Indeed, the Guyanese Jagdeo, in all of his sayings and doings, and his representations and protections, for Exxon comes across as more American than the Americans themselves.
Look at the record of this outstanding Guyanese leader, its oil champion, and whenever he has to stand in defense of the hopes and dreams of his own fellow citizens, his horse always somehow stumbles to its knees. Bharrat Jagdeo is then transformed into a pale shadow of the angry, impatient, and scornful man that he has registered before Guyana and towards his fellow Guyanese.

But, on the other hand, he dresses for battle when the mere mention of the name Exxon comes into play, in any conversation, any report. Then is when he comes to swift attention, standing erect, and with the crispest of salutes, as he reports for duty to the company.
Say what is wished about the man and leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, but he has earned his spurs for Exxon, and his medals received from them. Look at his chest, and it is decorated with ribbons and jewellery, the honours bestowed upon him by the grateful executives and board members of Exxon for his furious, and always victorious, exploits on their behalf. He gave them Payara. He then upped the ante and brought home (not to Guyana) but Exxon the fourth project, Yellowtail. And when the going got tough, he showed the rough side of his character, and made sure that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a rubberstamp state entity at his beck and call signed off on the coveted Liza-1 Permit renewal (no full insurance, clearing for flaring, and clean-up money backing). Already one Exxon partner is talking up a storm about approvals for a fifth project later this year, and a sixth one next year. This is the unshakeable confidence the oil companies have in Mr. Jagdeo, the guarantee that he represents.
Whatever is one’s regard for Bharrat Jagdeo, this one thing must never be forgotten, it must always be said: he delivers and in trumps for ExxonMobil. He should be in the running for Exxon’s agent of the decade, perhaps its best of all time. It is one that he has earned and is fully deserving of the recognition. As we reflect on all the wonderful things that our Vice President of Oil has done for Exxon, we wonder how much better Guyana would have been if he had placed a quarter of his energies and devotions for Guyana, and not Exxon.

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