H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – Trotman Erring, Jagdeo Pouncing

Jul 01, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – I believe that Mr. Raphael Trotman erred, when he listened to the advice of Mr. Carlton James, Exxon’s former communications chief.  If it is the same Carlton James of past media prowess, I am willing to concede that the advice was well-intended, notwithstanding his then American corporate ties, and the counsel that he extended does have its merits.  It was ‘never get dragged into a gutter fight.’   I agree for gutter fights are for guttersnipes, and my preference is to take the high ground, and let the audiences come to their own insights.

The problem is that Mr. Trotman’s error, viz., holding his peace, has presented a wide-open expressway for the wily Dr. Jagdeo to barrel along and shower dirt in the face of others, beginning with the former minister.  It has long been known that there is no love lost between the two political adversaries in Guyana, and Mr. Trotman’s silence and the reason(s) for his public withdrawal, was too good a moment for Dr. Jagdeo not to pounce.  My problem is the grounds that he chose to pounce.

Before proceeding, something should be tabled.  Regardless of what Mr. Trotman does he will come in for a sustained hammering.  He speaks to clear the air and brimstone poured on his head is his reward.  He says not a word, and all manner of interpretations and conclusions, almost every one of them harsh and negative, becomes his sorry lot, his cross to carry.

Dr. Jagdeo’s position is that Exxon does not decide for him, does not tell him what to say, what to do, and when to say or do so.  I am sorry brother Jagdeo, but please tell that to the Marines (he can check with his American friends at Exxon on the meaning of that string of words), or to somebody now the proud owner of the new Demerara River Bridge years away from completion.

I give an abbreviated list about which it is my belief that brother Jagdeo felt that Exxon would approve, or whispered commands made their nuanced way to his ear concerning what positions he should take, and never move.  When Dr. Jagdeo holds onto reports related to the feasibility of various projects in the Stabroek Block, then who is being listened to, whose stated or unstated expectations (more likely orders) are being followed, pretended to be his own.  There is every confidence that a man as clever as Dr. Jagdeo would know what Guyana’s citizens need to know for such would be to their benefit; and, by the same token, what the powers at Exxon would want to be kept away from them.  Then, when dear brother Jagdeo’s tongue gets trapped in his tonsils that he is powerless to reveal what interest rate Exxon is charging us for its investment loans, clearly that is something that Exxon does not want the people paying the annual interest bill (in the US billions) to know.  So, the following questions are put before my fellow Guyanese.

Who is following whose advice (American not Guyanese sourced) on what to release and what to withhold? Who is anticipating what brings a nod of approval (from Exxon) in terms of decisions made and actions taken?  And who bends over backwards or double so as to evade as long as possible the delivery of such routine matters as audit reports and expense disclosures?  In each one of those few instances identified, Guyanese are better off dealing with the openness of transparency, while Exxon is fully favored and better off by thick and lasting secrecy.  It does not take a genius of the caliber that Dr. Jagdeo claims as his calling to figure out that what Mr. Carlton James offered to Mr. Trotman is still present, and very much in motion, but this time in the absence of any admission from the cagey Vice President.  In other words, don’t say anything.

He has a right to protect himself from any likely self-incrimination.  So, his sounds of silence have a certain silvery (quicksilver) sheen to them.  The more he says, the less he has actually said.  I urge my fellows to recall the recent records of brother Jagdeo.  Where he has not come up with smokescreens, he has demonstrated a tendency to take to flight.  A clean pair of heels it has been repeatedly, to the point that Guyanese can read his shoe size, and definitively read him on workdays and holidays too, so obvious he is now.  If it is not concoction, it is obfuscation; if it is not hedging, it is dissembling; and if it is not a native smartness, it is disingenuousness. In sum, when brother Barry should walk a single straight line, he delights in traveling (or circling) on parallel tracks.  It is why I find Dr. Jagdeo a revealing political laboratory experiment gone all wrong now that it has blown up in the face of the Guyanese people.

Raphael Trotman has placed his cards on the table.  Bharrat Jagdeo must do the same, no matter how many jacks and jokers they are.  The common connection is the eight-thousand-ton gorilla (sorry, superpower) that is Exxon.  Speak, or forever hold peace.  There are such marriages.

(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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• Erring, Exxon’s, GHK Lall, H@rd Truths, Jagdeo

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