H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL –  The Maduro papers

Dec 19, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – There was a time when regard was present for Guyana’s Attorney General, Mr. Anil Nandlall, SC, MP.  No question that such regard was low to begin with, but I confess that it is almost nonexistent now.  For whenever he pronounces, he diminishes what was already at a low watermark before.  I regret this.  It is painful duty to inform my brother that no party should ever take primacy before honesty; no entity, no agency must ever be allowed to take precedence to the interests of all Guyanese.  Mr. Nandlall knows this as well as I do; almost, but not quite.  For there he was waxing with lip gloss sparkle about the Nicholas Maduro Memoranda on Exxon in Guyana, and those who are so irresponsible as to put the company to the sword.  I have some news for Mr. Nandlall.  The hope is that he will make the best use of the messages.

There are Guyanese who are as American as Exxon.  And Mr. Routledge.  But then there are Americans who recoil from the idea of being Donald Trump.  Or Rudy Guiliani.  Some may see identifying with those two characters as a matter of loyalty, others as nativist duty, a few as badge of honor.  Not I; and it is why there is writing and speaking to what is good and bad to HE, VP, Country Head, (AG also).  With tableset, I proceed.

What Exxon is doing here is unmentionable, uncivilized, un-American, and unreal.  The fleeting thought was harbored that what Exxon is doing here to the Guyanese people is un-Guyanese.  But then what is Guyanese in truth and at the core, when this country’s ostensibly most honorable of law, fairness, and justice would be moved to take his curious angle on the Maduro Papers, as presented in the Argyle Highlands of St Vincent.  I understand that the blends there are as good as any in the lochs of the country of MacDonalds and Stuarts.  Since this road is traveled, Mr. Nandlall should recall Robert the Bruce.  He fought for his country at Bannockburn, and not against it.  Against the odds.  Against the might of the British now so cherished (plus my fellow Americans) here in these mental, intellectual, and ethical ghettoes of Guyana. Mr. Nandlall, was that heard?  Now, there is Exxon.

On Monday, Stabroek News editorialized that Exxon could be labeled with “rapacious exploitation” of Guyana’s oil.  Mr. Nandlall may feign ignorance of such rapaciousness, but there are some Guyanese of conscience and patriotism who highlight the bloodletting.  And alongside that, how his government has prostituted and prostrated itself to satisfy the predations of Exxon.  Mr. Maduro doesn’t live on Mars, nor Guyanese in some barren wilderness.  Please don’t ask Guyanese who think, who work at honesty, to suppress those outspoken instincts that more citizens should make theirs.

Women reporters were smeared for asking hard oil questions.  For Exxon.  I have been vilified.  On behalf of Exxon.  Now public expressions (commentaries) must toe Mr. Nandlall’s party line, so Mr. Maduro lacks ammunition.  Is this where this remarkable son of Guyana has tumbled?  To think I believed that this brother was of presidential timber!  I have been here too long; local crassness tarnishes.  What next, Mr. AG?

What Exxon is doing here may be justified by the AG for political considerations.  I neitherapplaud nor excoriate him.  I would love to lend a word, a voice to what the PPP Government (and Mr. Nandlall) hail as Exxon’s partnering virtues, but I cannot.  Not with all of its blinding corporate, capitalist vices that form the dominant culture in Guyana.  Not when the government is condoner and collaborator in the barbarisms brutalizing Guyanese hopes.  In the fashion of slaveholders of old, Mr. Nandlall may wish that public commentators emphasize how happy the slaves are here, thanks to Exxon’s generosity.  Economic and mental slavery, to be correct.

The reality of what Exxon is doing to Guyanese, with the total surrender of a spineless, impotent government is cannibalistic and sadistic.  Wearing another gown, I may say satanic.  Which company and which government hide need-to-know information from citizens?  Which officer of any government fights on behalf of a company engaged in “rapacious exploitation” against the interests of the people who elected them?  It is the ultimate submission of one’s mindto the dictates of leaders; the relinquishment of rights to earn any respect from fellows.  One leader pontificates, another prevaricates, one more accommodates any plunder of this country.  I say it again to Mr. Nandlall: give me something principled to work with on this oil, and there will be a better press presence than the self-promoters and self-servers who do anything for a dollar.  Mine is free to Guyana, like this.

This is also said to Exxon’s Country Head Mr. Routledge: do right by Guyana (by the numbers), and those local pretenders on the payroll would be put to shame.  Give Guyanese what is tangible, and meaningful, for their wealth, and there will be no more hard-charging presence here for Exxon.  Give Guyana what is fair, just, and due, and I will champion Exxon for free.  Mr. Routledge should know that this is the fortitude, rectitude and certitude that are a part of what made America great once.  Don’t have used car salesmen, some with limited aptitude and questionable integrity, selling cheap whiskey (cricket sponsorship), cheap trinkets (academic aid), and cheap tricks in the manner of that ancient profession.

As for Senor Maduro, to buttress his frivolous, spurious, and vexatious claims on Guyana’s territory, I have some unneeded guidance for his envoys, moles, spies, and cells here.  When supporting information is needed about Guyana and oil, simply go to the DPI, NCN, the Guyana Chronicle, and other PPP channels that speak to the beauties of Guyana’s opulence and the American corporate supergiant.  Those PPP cups overfloweth with details of what is good, bad, and ugly.  There are no more helpful public commentaries of what would be aiding and abetting Mr. Maduro’s manipulations and machinations.

(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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• Attorney General, GHK Lall, Guyana, Guyanese, MP, Mr. Anil Nandlall

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