Sixth oil project: Guyanese must stand up

Sep 06, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Guyanese have to make up their own minds regarding ExxonMobil’s and Vice President Jagdeo’s sixth oil project. Guyanese must make their minds about whether the American oil partner is a straight shooter and a clean operator, viz., a set of people with whom they can do business.

In other words, when people from ExxonMobil say that this is the way it is, then it is guaranteed to be so, come rain or shine. Regarding the Vice President, once one of Guyana’s favourite sons, if not the most favourite one of all, the people of this country must also decide for themselves how far they are prepared to trust him, and where does that leave them, should he prove to be a huckster and operator for ExxonMobil. It is make or break time for Guyanese, and the clock is ticking.

This is because the sixth oil project is working its way rather swiftly to completion of preliminaries. Truth be told, it is moving at breakneck speed, for this is the way that ExxonMobil does its business in Guyana. Also, this is what has become the norm in how Vice President Jagdeo has simply fallen over himself to clear the way for ExxonMobil, so that there are no delays, no bottlenecks, no red tape. This has been so regardless of who says what. Anyone paying careful attention to how the American company operates here, and the manner in which Guyana’s Jagdeo has sprawled himself backwards to accommodate the company’s objectives, would come to one conclusion. There is no better tango team than America’s ExxonMobil and Guyana’s Bharrat Jagdeo. Both know what the other desires, each one works with an extraordinary degree of knowing arrangements towards what satisfies the other.

This has been the way for prior oil projects, such as three, four, and five, as handled by ExxonMobil and Jagdeo. With each new oil project put on the drawing board, announced, and approved, the two partners in attitude and aptitude have gotten quicker, slicker, and slipperier. The sixth oil project forms part of the continuum, but at a higher pitch and this is the secret sauce at work between ExxonMobil and Jagdeo. What Guyanese are watching in slow motion are two of the cleverest manufacturers (of how things ought to be), and operators (focused on getting things done).

In recent times, when Guyanese look at their own Jagdeo he is unrecognizable. He is no longer one of them, for he is now blissfully happy to be ExxonMobil’s man on the ground in Guyana. Anyone of ExxonMobil’s heavy hitters tips a delicately manicured fingernail, and there is Jagdeo hanging in the air. He does not care if he has to hang the hopes of every Guyanese, all he cares about is ExxonMobil and its interests, what is beneficial to it, notwithstanding how much is the cost to Guyana. This is what is going on with ExxonMobil and Jagdeo in a blur of motion.

ExxonMobil presents the compulsory Environmental Impact Assessment (or public consultations and regulatory stages) that needs to go through the whole nine yards, not to worry. For there is ExxonMobil’s man Jagdeo landing on the beaches, like a battling MacArthur marine, clearing out snipers, landmines, and bunkers. ExxonMobil and Jagdeo both know the drill from past experience, and this is precisely what is going to happen with this make or break sixth oil project for Guyanese. We say so because a lot hinges on it. If there is no hard, unyielding fight by Guyanese, then that’s it, the rest of the projects in the pipeline are in for the smoothest sailing. It will be all greenlight and rubberstamps and oily political talk, while the wealth of this country is senselessly bartered away by Jagdeo, as if they will have zero value overnight.

This is the wealth of Guyanese. This oil is the inheritance of Guyanese. This is a major part of the aspirations and destiny of generations of Guyanese. So, what is it going to be? More of the sheep-like while the wealth is served up on a platter by Jagdeo, or plundered by ExxonMobil? ExxonMobil and Jagdeo must pay more for this sixth project. If not, it must be stopped.

Bharrat Jagdeo, Editorial, favourite, shine, Vice President

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Sixth oil project: Guyanese must stand up

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