The Ray Daggers fast stopped by PPP before it started

Jun 01, 2023 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News- Ray Daggers upped the ante on the Exxon oil contract, but the PPP Government promptly shut him down.  He tried to raise the stakes in the face of the leaders of this country who have been verbally slippery with this destructive contract, and mere shadows of themselves.  The Guyana Police Force was sent out repeatedly: clear the area in front of the Office of President of all obstacles, including human ones, even if it is only one, Citizen Daggers.

Ray Daggers, fresh from his long walk against the leprous Exxon oil contract, had to stop the daily fasting he had in mind in front of that prime location.  In fairness to the government, there has to be a security perimeter around the Office of the President, which must be unbreachable.  It is why small group after small group of GPF professionals came in a parade of inquirers (what is this about?) and pleaders (please move).  I spoke to three of them, and told them not to say a word, just listen.  All I repeat here is this: it is ruff day when our own Guyanese are turned out against our fellow Guyanese on behalf of foreign interlopers, foreign invaders, and foreign exploiters.  They must have thought of the man from Mars, plus one with many heads.

But if a simple fast against an oil contract that both the grand President Ali and the grander Vice President Jagdeo condemned in the harshest terms could result in such a show of official force, then Guyanese cork duck.  Now the indomitable Ray Daggers has to recalibrate his relentless struggle against this Exxon contract that hemorrhages this country of its rich destiny, its birthright.

I laud this man, this citizen, this stranger that I barely know. The rage that he shares is mine.  The pain that he feels from this contract causes bleeding here.  His unmatched, palpable patriotism delivered in aces; I hope I can claim as my own at some time.

Ray Daggers puts our leaders to shame.  His actions-the walk, now this curtailed fast-exposes them, insults them, and humiliates them.  It is well-earned and due; because what he does fearlessly from the front, is what our leaders in the PPP Government and the combined Opposition have slunk away from doing.

Where is the all-powerful Dr. Jagdeo, Guyana’s Chief Oil Minister now reduced to pitiable impotency?  Where is Mr. Norton, Guyana’s one-time all muscular, the yearned for, formidable Opposition Leader, now drained of the pressures that he should apply?  Where is Mr. Ramjattan, astute political leader and legal practitioner of note, now languishing in embarrassing captivity?  Where is His Excellency, the supposedly perspicacious Excellency Ali, now condemning himself into exile with his oil guile?  All who had a problem with the Exxon contract from hell, now suddenly shelter under it, as though reborn with this gift from heaven.

It is why President Alistair Routledge of Exxon smirks and comes up with one hocus pocus after another to kerfuffle Guyanese over any contract change.  About investor interest and security.  About the cascade of goodies that his company’s abominable contract makes possible for Guyanese.  And about the financial consequences for Exxon.  This crafty corporate captain articulates his hollow platitudes, and there is none better than Guyana’s own Dr. Jagdeo to parrot, echo, and tout them.  The other leaders in the national political sphere are also subservient to the contract, and the caprices of this ugliest of American enterprise.

It takes this rare figure, someone like Ray Daggers, to walk first.  Now when Ray Daggers presses himself into a fast against this villainous contract on behalf of Guyanese, the PPP Government was ready.  Not here!  Go over there.  I understand that brother Jagdeo has to deliver his side of the bargain with America (and Exxon), but so blatantly, so shamelessly comrades?  Okay, try fellow citizens.

Guyanese will have to make clear where they stand. They can choose to live under an Exxon contract that puts a yoke on their necks that forces their heads to their knees, like beasts of no account.  Or they can throw off the shackles from their wrists and ankles, peel away the duct tape from their mouths, and struggle for what is their inheritance, fight for a rightful share of the rich legacy of their land.

There has been a walk.  There was to be a fast, but that has been slowed.  There will have to be more.  Guyanese must gird their hips, tighten their gut, and let the fire in their souls flare, and be seen and heard and felt around the world.  This contract is a vise and a vice.  It locks and imprisons Guyanese.  This contract is of the vicious and violent waged against Guyanese.  This contract poisons and paralyzes hopeful citizens of this country; it is a vice of a vulgar and revolting nature.  This contract must go to its death.  The Guyanese people must bury it.

Guyanese must get their shovels ready, do their part.  If not, then they themselves will be buried by Exxon. I ponder the thinking in high PPP circles: send the police on me, or their goons. Oh, well….Something tells me Ray Daggers will be back.

(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.)

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• Exxon, GHK Lall, PPP Government, Ray Daggers

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