Jagdeo goes to friendly media for soft questions to attack Guyanese

Sep 14, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Revisiting some of the addresses made by President Ali, like the one at the Center Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), with US Ambassador Sarah Lynch and Hess’s Corp’s John Hess present, the speakers showered praises on President Ali as if he was a demigod, like his Guyanese supporters including doctors who speak of him as a messiah.

The president actually believes John Hess and other foreigners are praising him personally, and not the fact they are using him to exploit Guyana. The president then, like a circus performer, performs for those who paid for admission by saying how Guyana’s oil and resources are worth thousands of billions of US$, and Guyana is open to “foreign investors”, and the government will facilitate “foreign investors” in Guyana, by granting them, tax-free, duty-free concessions and some kind of compliance with transparency and environmental regulations.

The president sounds like someone who just got robbed, and praising the robbers for their efficiency in perpetrating the robbery, and also telling them he has much more valuables for them to rob. This has emboldened the “foreign investors” to boast openly that, Guyana is now ground zero, where unprecedented returns on their investments are guaranteed, while Guyanese get nothing and their struggle to survive is getting tougher for them daily. The president is now shouting for repatriations for slavery and indentureship that happened centuries ago, but saying nothing about the current slavery in Guyana.

Whether President Ali is aware, blurting out that Guyana’s oil and resources are worth thousands of billions of US$, has made every Guyanese locally and abroad realize, they are worth a minimum of 1 million US$ each, plus much more, and also undermining his own VP Jagdeo who continues to tell Guyanese, there are only paltry cash grants for them from Guyana’s thousands of billions of US$ Dollars of wealth. The VP at his deceiving sessions called press conferences tells Guyanese he has already dealt with oil contract renegotiations, ring-fencing, full cover insurance, interest rate cap, taxation, auditing Exxon’s expenses, decommissioning funds, and oil blocks relinquishment, yet Guyanese can see no proof of this.

The VP also says if he releases information on the oil sector, people will nitpick information to attack him, yet he picks lice aspects of the oil contract to blame APNU, but he didn’t say the part where APNU had a plan to have people on the oil ships monitoring Exxon’s operations.  And APNU also had an EPA that would have made sure Exxon comply with full cover insurance and flaring regulations, all of which the VP quashed. The VP also said those who ask him critical questions about oil and resource wealth have agendas.  The VP should know the agenda of Guyanese is to get their rightful share of their God-given wealth, so Guyanese have a right to their agenda. The VP should know he and other MPs are employees of Guyanese who are the true owners of Guyana’s wealth and employers of all MPs, and thus their employees (MPs), have an obligation to provide their employers with all relevant information whenever required, period.

Guyanese must be aware that, countries where the citizens understand they are the employers of their MPs, and hold their MPs to account as employers should, have the highest standard of living and are the happiest people in the world since their present comfortable life and their future one are protected. Whenever Exxon and the other foreign exploiters ask for representations from Guyana’s MPs, they get it, likewise, Guyanese who are the employers of these MPs should also get representations from their MPs whenever they request. Kudos must be given to the Amerindian who asked the VP directly for his oil money, and the woman at Bartica asking President Ali about the oil blocks along with the credible reporters who continue to ask MPs questions about Guyana’s oil operations.

Guyana’s citizens and reporters must remind the VP, that he has NOT dealt with oil contract renegotiations, ring-fencing, full cover insurance, interest rate cap, taxation, auditing Exxon’s expenses, decommissioning funds, and oil blocks relinquishment to Guyanese liking. So, all concerned Guyanese, continue asking MPs these critical questions. Remember constant banging of sounds brought down the Walls of Jericho in the Bible, and will also bring down the walls of treachery these corrupted MPs have protecting them, since nowadays MPs cannot hide anymore due to social media.

Instead of The VP gathering a team of experts, some who even are willing to work “pro-bono” for the benefit of Guyanese, he is going on his friendly media, who ask him “comfortable” questions and giving him a forum to attack people who can see through his deceptions, and saying he is following industry standards for managing the oil sector, he should say which industry standards he follows. Inflation has hit many countries hard after COVID-19, and Guyana has more than the wealth to offset this if the MPs do the right things, but they are not doing so.

Local Guyanese now who even live in big houses are now cutting back on electricity to save. Guyanese in the diaspora, most of whom are low-income earners, are also feeling the squeeze of inflation in the foreign countries they live, and sending less money back home, making the struggle to live harder for Guyanese everywhere. Now thanks to the president’s loud mouth saying Guyana’s oil and resources are worth thousands of billions of US dollars, Guyanese are realizing what they are missing out on. Die-hard PPP supporters are now asking questions about oil and gold, even the support for the government is now half-hearted from their staunch defenders as all Guyanese are starting to realize the facts.

Clement Rohee, another one who stayed silent as the country’s wealth was being sold out, has now resurfaced saying how the PPP is still better than the PNC as if hungry people now care about this. Guyanese are starting to realize the facts of Guyana’ wealth, but what action will they take? Guyanese have taken none so far for their oil and resources wealth. The moment of truth is now facing Guyanese with, the full cover insurance case in court, the oil blocks relinquishment, and the coming 6th oil project, if all these go in favor of ExxonMobil, and Guyanese gets nothing, yet choose to stay silent, then Guyanese would have chosen to forego their wealth and choose to be become second class citizens, slaving, stealing, starving and resorting to scampishness to survive in their own oil and resource-rich country, and I sincerely wish Glenn Lall all the best in continuing fighting for them.

Yours truly,

R. David

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• Center Strategic & International Studies, demigod, Guyanese, President, R. David.

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