Cash-cow, kick back, sweet spots, Chancellor and CJ

Jun 12, 2022 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Encouraging Events, Disturbing Developments…

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – Guyana is a cash-cow without equal, which is very encouraging, as said by the man in charge of those green and white gas stations. Hess and company are rolling in greenbacks, which brings me to a disturbing place. Somehow, in this land of plenty, a great many Guyanese are chronically short of cash; apparently, the cow herd passed them by, without so much as a passing glance, a flick of the tail. John Hess, CEO of Hess Corporation, is boasting before the world, like one of those heavily costumed television wrestlers, except that he is not a loudmouth. The man speaks of the oily substance that gushes from below Guyana’s seabed in one geyser after another of light, sweet crude. Our oil cow is loaded, but with something richer than milk. It is cash. Squeeze its ears and money runs out; touch its swollen udders, and cash flows. This is what John Hess could brag about, with cash coming out from his pores for his shareholders. For all the cash that the mass of poor Guyanese gets from its oil cow, this oil is not here, it might as well be in Kathmandu. Hess boasts, Guyanese beg.
Unexpectedly, the Opposition Leader said what also had a cash-cow flavour. It was that the reincarnated Amaila Falls Hydro Project is a kickback arrangement for PPP cronies. This is possibly the most telling statement that he has yet put out. It encourages that the Opposition shines spotlights on the great robberies that these projects and their spending represent. From contract awards to project visions, PPP leaders set these schemes up to enrich their insiders, who then kickback a percentage to the top. It is why they can build towering structures, swagger around like drug barons with their Omega watches, offshore accounts, and off-the-books relationships. Take a close look at top PPP leaders and comrades, and there is not a single ‘maagah’ one among them. This is called living off the fat of the land, as in the kickbacks they collect from every project. Thieving PPP leaders and their cabals prosper from kickbacks, while Guyanese are pauperised by these same kickbacks that deliver repeated mule kicks to their expectations, their dreams. It is cash all over, only problem is that the little people are not seeing any of it. Certainly, not to the level that they should in this country where hundreds of millions, sometimes even billions, are part of the great leadership celebrations and fixes. Indeed, the fix is in, and Amaila Falls is one.
The cash carnival continues with the chief of Hess Corporation (again) now raving about targeting ‘sweet spots’ in the Stabroek Block. I remind the Hess boss that loose lips sink ships. He is giving away too much with his blabbering. Because targeting ‘sweet spots’ could mean that good (average, ordinary) underwater lakes are ignored, in the hunt for the oceans (sweet spots) teeming with oil. It also means that after Exxon and Hess and the Chinese are done, there could still be much crude left untouched. It is as if they are grabbing all the big fish, while leaving the catfish. In the mad rush by the oil companies for the biggest cash pools (sweet spots) Guyana is being shortchanged some more. At this rate, it could be that we have more oil than Saudi Arabia, maybe more than Venezuela. The obstacle is that only the oil companies know, which the gushing John Hess gives us a quick look at when he parts the kimono. Bottom line is that we don’t even know the full extent of what we have out there, which is a recipe for a cash killing by the oil companies.
Last, in the matter of the appointments of Chancellor and Chief Justice, the Opposition Leader stated that this is now in Government’s hands. It is not a good place, and I watch to see if this is going to play out like the Police and Integrity Commissions, that is, names and faces more fitting with PPP total control visions. It disturbs that I have to warn that these straws are adding up. Let’s not get there.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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