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Jun 26, 2023 Editorial

Editorial…

Kaieteur News – Did he or didn’t he? Did what John Hess CEO of Hess Corporation said was emphasized to him by Guyana’s President Ali accurate? That is, did he hear right, have it right, on President Ali’s reassurance about a stay of the judgment by the Court of Appeal of an aspect of Judge Kissoon’s ruling? If John Hess presented what actually was shared by President Ali with him, then one of the few remaining planks, check and balance, in Guyana is tottering, not too far from going the same way as other constitutional bulwarks in this country.

According to Mr. Hess, President Ali emphasized that a stay WILL be granted in the appeal brought by Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency, the Guyana Government, and Guyana’s partner in the oil sector ExxonMobil. The appeal sought to overturn Judge Kissoon’s ruling involving ExxonMobil providing Guyana with an unlimited (or full) parent company guarantee in the event of an oil spill of massive proportions. As per Mr. Hess, whose company is part of the ExxonMobil led consortium operating in Guyana’s offshore oilfields, President Ali told him the equivalent of ‘not to worry, as everything was in place, for Judge Kissoon’s ruling to be reversed, as it pertains to the 30-day limit granted to ExxonMobil to deliver the parent company guarantee.

How could President Ali be so sure? What could have possibly gone on, been worked out, behind the scenes? It is either that Mr. Hess misheard or misinterpreted President Ali, or what some Guyanese feared coming to past. But if Mr. Hess speaks truthfully, then the judiciary doesn’t look so good, and Guyana is in a worse place than could be imagined. We have always had an appreciation for the talkative nature of CEO Hess: when he opens his mouth, many stories have jumped out. Regrettably, those stories have not been about what is positive or good for Guyanese, but what always favours his partners, his company, his family, and his shareholders.

In contrast, the Guyana family and Guyanese shareholders are dumped to the margins, like garbage. Their concerns, complaints, and cries about full insurance protection (and other material oil-related matters) have been minimized to what Mr. Hess dismissed as “noise” to his listeners at the JP Morgan 2023 Energy, Power, and Renewables Conference. Our anxieties about safety, economy, prosperity, and destiny are waved away as “noise” by Mr. Hess. Did our own President Ali, through some nuanced expression plant that word “noise” in Mr. Hess’s ear, so that he turns around, and utters it mockingly, merrily, to his audience?

If Mr. Hess’s representation to the JP Morgan deep-pocketed gathering is even partially right, then it is a testimony to how our own elected leaders have put the interests (and cash priorities) of the oil companies very far ahead of the interests and rights and safety of Guyana and Guyanese. In the local political schemes, Guyanese do not count for much, other than being noise infected people to be at the beck and call of politicians. Politicians then approve of them being taken advantage of, and pushed around by ExxonMobil and others.

Could that be how judicial rulings that are not “predictable” are thought of, dealt with, as in defeated? This does not speak favourably about the judiciary as a whole, and those who sit in judgment of what comes before them. Precious and sacred independence of the judiciary is now on the line, with possible inroads being made, and political toppling threatened. Vice President Jagdeo had made blindingly clear his troubling anger, his impatience, and his dismissal of Judge Kissoon’s ruling. What was just as clear was that the PPP/C Government and leadership were not going to leave any stone unturned to upturn the ruling that was against ExxonMobil.

This is Guyana’s Government; this is the kind of leadership that Guyanese have. Guyana’s EPA is a PPP/C Government puppet and global laughingstock, Guyana’s Police Force is a PPP/C Government toy on a string, and Guyana’s vast non-independent media stands as nothing but PPP/C Government messenger boys and girls. What Mr. Hess proudly puts on the table does not shed a clean light on either President, government, or the believed untouched independence of the judiciary.

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