OP:ED - Two PMs, one airline, no courtesy

OP:ED – Two PMs, one airline, no courtesy

Feb 17, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – Something is missing the mark in this embarrassing development involving two regional Prime Ministers departing at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. What American Airlines did to Prime Ministers Dr. Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago, and Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has more than a whiff of the untoward. It reeks of the heavy-handed and what is intended to convey a sharp, hard message.

GHK Lall

Mind own business, keep to own side of the street. This is how I see that humiliation at the CJIA, which does not come across as a slip of procedure, a failure of standard. I sense a purposeful failure of respect; respect that is due, and for which there should be hell to pay. For the embarrassment experienced by them is an embarrassment extended to us; their humiliation is ours also. I would think that in the normal course of business, how these things work, that both Prime Minister Rowley and Prime Minister Gonsalves would possess diplomatic, or some special, passports. Such a document alone should immediately alert airport staff that the two men are not ordinary passengers, and that the red-carpet treatment should be rolled out. Also, I believe that two Prime Ministers would not be alone at the check-in counter, but would be accompanied by an entourage, however tiny in number. That ought to have been warning bell number two. Then considering that the Government of Guyana actually intervened with American Airlines personnel should have sufficed as a third loud strike. I trust that I have the part of the official local intervention accurately, and with the proper timing, sequence.

When I take all of this into consideration, a rather peculiar sound rings in the ear. It provokes more than discomfort; there is agitation. For the obvious standing of these two Prime Ministers, not some light concealed under a calabash, to be ignored, and for the prior written communication, and later overtures, of the Government of Guyana to be rebuffed on its own soil, registers most unacceptably with me. Men and women with all kinds of tawdry records pass through airports, and under the gaze of airlines, without interdiction, (and American Airlines cannot be exempted here) but this is the saga of two Prime Ministers from the region, despite escalation and intervention.

What is going on here? What was in the head of the people of American Airlines manning that counter, in those fateful encounters involving two Heads-of-State? Perhaps, the more pertinent question was what was planted in the heads of the American Airlines people that they were so adamant, so resistant in every way to appeal, to reason, to pausing and examining the circumstances (and men) before them? These are not ordinary men, run of the mill passengers, but both highly educated men, who stand the highest in their respective countries. They have high reputations in Guyana. Yet this is their treatment by American Airlines, and it is the shabbiest imaginable.

Now, I am going to take this to where others may shrink from going. I ask myself whether American Airlines acted as a proxy for the two American oil companies operating in Guyana. Or took it upon itself to rub the faces of these two Prime Ministers to teach them a lesson, so that they will mind their manners in the future, and not stick their noses where such do not belong. This is such a departure from established norms that I inquire what else could have been at play, but which will forever be denied. I will now stake out a position.

Both Dr. Rowley and Dr. Gonsalves, in characteristic fashion, spoke with energy and passion, with no punches pulled. In a teaspoon, they called upon, pressed on, warned, and insisted that, Guyana be cognizant of its power, its rights, and its duty to its peoples, given its oil endowment. They further cautioned about speed and awareness, and doing what protects and enhances this nation. It is my position that both said too much, both went too far, and both rankled sensitive American oil presences in Guyana. Therefore, they both had to be shown the error of their ways in a very public dressing down. Thus, we have the development at CJIA, regardless of the efforts of the Guyana Government. I take offense to this: hard, severe, angry offense.

I read that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued regrets. I think that it would be a step better, definitely classy and in order, if President Ali would reach out to his counterparts from T&T and St. Vincent and offer his own personal displeasure over their experience. Taking this into account, if this can be the lot of two Prime Ministers, I cringe from thinking what could be dished out by either American Airlines, or other American entities, to locals of lesser standing. Does speaking out against American oil atrocities in Guyana condemn us to pariah status? Even that of deviants, possibly subversives?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)