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New AFC leadership must take a stand for oil

Jun 15, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – The AFC has new leadership in the person of attorney at law, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, a veteran contributor on the Guyana political scene (KN June 12). Both the new leader and his party must live up to its name. The Alliance for Change (AFC) must be about that change, and nothing else. The Alliance For Change must be about real change to this horrid oil deal that we have with ExxonMobil and its group of grasping oil pirates and ravaging buccaneers, like the plunderers and destroyers of old.
It used to matter to us that one of the AFC’s own, the signature of Mr. Raphael Trotman (also an attorney-at-law), is the one who signed on behalf of the Coalition Government and left us in this pathetic and powerless state. We can continue to do so, and beat an empty drum, which serves no purpose, leads to none of the meaningful developments and tangible results that this country needs so urgently. Instead, we prefer to focus on today, and what is before us, in terms of what has to be done, and who can lead the way in getting it done, by wringing some meaningful benefits from Exxon.
This is where the AFC and its new leadership slate, led by Mr. Ramjattan come into play, and must feature heavily. This nation must know where the AFC and Mr. Ramjattan stand in the clearest of terms, the strongest of postures, regarding Guyana’s oil deal with Exxon. We are hoping that the AFC leader would reach out to PPP/C Government leaders and get them to appreciate the absolute necessity of getting more for Guyana from its oil wealth.
What we have here, and what we live with, is a crime. It is possibly the worst of corporate and political leadership crimes in this country, maybe even the world over. So, we must move to correct it, step by step, and piece by piece. It is that or nothing, and this we make abundantly clear to the AFC and Mr. Ramjattan. He and his group will earn our kudos, if they come out swinging for Guyana, and don’t hold back any punches. Guyanese need such leadership, and Mr. Ramjattan must demonstrate that he has it.
An important aspect of Mr. Ramjattan’s leadership vision must be a willingness to engage all of his counterparts in the PPP/C and PNC so that they can present a united front to make a stand for Guyana for Guyanese. When Guyana is divided, then the foreign oil companies easily overrun us, and conquer us. When the Opposition, taken as a combined unit, is lacking in spirit and strength, then the PPP/C Government is tempted, and feels empowered, to play games with Guyanese, and the future of this country.
Our citizens are hurting, particularly those on the lower end of the economic ladder. We can talk forever and a day about the sanctity of oil contracts, and the unbreakable, ironclad nature of them. But the attorney in Mr. Ramjattan must know that ways have to be found to overcome that obstacle by taking Exxon’s power and using it against the company. Instead of going head-on against the terms and conditions of the lopsided contract, we urge him to go around it, and nip at it, from its heels to its backsides to its weak spots. There are weak spots that should have been exploited, there are some that have yet to be tapped.
When our leaders can find the courage and character to come out for citizens for this oil wealth, then Exxon cannot stop us. Citizens will not have grounds to look to their left and then right, and be held to ransom by our divisions, be enfeebled by their political loyalties. This would be about fighting for Guyana for all Guyanese.
These are the reasons that we press new AFC Leader, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, to link arms with the PNC’s Mr. Norton, and the PPP/C’s Dr. Ali and Dr. Jagdeo, so they all can go forward shoulder to shoulder in leading the charge against Exxon and its kind. They must call out citizens to come out and carry the fight to Exxon for more for us.

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