Protest the day after

Oct 30, 2023 Editorial

Editorial…

Kaieteur News – The sun came out in its sharpness. Guyanese protesters also came out with firmness and furiousness. They want better from their oil; they want more. Feet tramping back and forth in front of the Office of the President, voices soaring in a steady chant.

It was a relentless rhythm that said: take back the 120 oil blocks now a day away from their return. It was the Government of Guyana must wrap the oil projects inside of individual fences, so that they stand or fall on their own weight. It was that the man in the forefront of the oil, the self-described policymaker, must cap interest rates.

To President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharat Jagdeo, and ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Officer Alistair Routledge, a clear and strong message was sent on Friday, October 27, 2023: the pressure is building. Guyanese want their fair share from their patrimony, and the blanket of fear that has kept them off the streets and from speaking out is growing thinner and thinner, actually falling away. Over a hundred citizens coming out and standing in the relentless heat is an improvement on prior protests involving this oil. Over a hundred Guyanese expressing their impatience and their intensifying discontent about oil contract, oil management, and oil benefits that are not experienced is a solid nucleus on which to build momentum against the predatory. It must form the foundation from which to get in the face of the selfish and greedy.

The predators are primarily foreign, with ExxonMobil at the head of the line. The greedy include both foreign self-enrichers and their local partners, who deal with the obstacles in their way, be they human or otherwise. The Guyanese partners of the ExxonMobil(s) of the world have in their ranks political people, businesspeople, religious people, professional people, who are bound by one defining feature. They sell their own so that they can come into their own. They give up the hopes and riches of Guyanese so that they (local partners) can do well for themselves, rise up.

Guyanese came out to get back their 120 oil blocks that are due tomorrow. There is the potential to make chunks of money for this country. Guyanese marched to and fro on Vlissingen Road, while calling for upcoming oil projects to be ringfenced, beginning with the sixth one that is racing ahead to the approval line. There is the need to install what protects this country from exploitation, what could very likely result in significant expense oversight and the possible savings benefits that come from such action. Guyanese made their voices and placards speak at high volume about capping interest rates.

In each instance (oil blocks, ringfencing, capped interest rates), there is serious money in American dollars that could be made by Guyana. ExxonMobil said that it is not charging interest on investments in Guyana, which we have to get to the bottom of, before that is believed. Believed and accepted when interest charges supposedly sacrificed or gifted to Guyana is proven not to be collected under some creative accounting sleight of hand.

Guyanese are increasingly angry at their own people who partner with those who prey upon the citizens of this country. The level of trust in elected leaders has dropped precipitously, for there is the strong sense that their own government is taking them for a ride. Guyanese can’t get off the ground, when their own people drive their faces deeper into it, with deceptions and distractions. The poor in this country are living in dismal circumstances, while the few that are well-connected live in splendor and extravagance. This is not what the continuing discoveries of oil should mean in who is touched by it and joyful versus those who still exist in the same way, viz., their poverty and their disillusioned state.

This is part of what is at the heart of the gathering in front of Office of the President. The unfairness of ExxonMobil, the stubborn, unhearing nature of their government and leaders. The disappointment at how so much more could be had, but no effort is made to get anything. Given these underpinnings, there is sure to be more Fridays like the last one, bigger ones.

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capped interest rates, ExxonMobil, Government of Guyana, local partners, Oil blocks, ringfencing

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