Roysdale Forde – an unbarbed profile

Jun 26, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – Today, it is the turn of Mr. Roysdale Forde, SC, MP, shadow attorney general.  The man who wants to be king has come out of the shadows, and he is swinging for the fences.  Will he scale, or will he succumb to its height, its barbed talons reaching to deter the ambitious, the reckless?  The pencil marks on the wall confirm my thinking.  He will have to wait for his coronation, but that should not stop him from being a kingmaker.  It is a charmed existence, the intricate role of kingmaker who is, in effect, a tightrope walker.  They have a history of falling on their heads or losing their heads.  There is such a thing as a man before his time, a man in a hurry, one that still must pay his full dues.

None of this has deterred Mr. Forde, and his hat is in the middle of the leadership ring.  I see him staking out his position in the contrast that he wishes to project.  There must be change(s) to that exceptional piece of corporate handiwork from Exxon.  It is an unofficial Sabbath day, so I thought that it is best to keep things civil.  Hence, corporate handiwork, and not corporate crime, or odious American corporate calumny from Exxon.  It is obvious that Mr. Forde believes that going his own way and traveling on grounds that even the political gods of Guyana fear to tread will usher him into the hearts of his first targeted constituency.  That would be his PNC constituency.  He makes enough inroads there, and emerges victorious, and that bigger and broader constituency would be his next challenge.  He has his work cut out for him in both instances.  The first is old PNC Guyana, and the second is the same ole, same ole, PPP Guyana.  Yeah, the ramparts are high.  The best of luck to Mr. Forde in his political endeavours come July or August.

Change must happen and change to the contract is the higher gear that Mr. Forde has made his mantra.  He had better be prepared to go all the way.  Or he may not be able to get out of the way fast enough to save his neck.  He can take care of himself.  My priority is this hunt for those who will take care of Guyanese interests.  Not their own.  Not that which benefits Exxon first, foremost, and for all time.  That’s not a contract, it is a despicable crime.  A shame and cardinal disgrace on its authors, and the sharpest condemnations on its backers.  The US Ambassador is duty bound to do so.  But, by God! not any leader in this country.  Not one citizen.  If some Venezuelans have a beef with Exxon, then why should not every Guyanese?  I reassure the recoiling that this has absolutely no relation to the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Indeed, without delving into mafiosi culture, that is usually so.  But how can it be when Exxon is such a fiend to Guyanese and not the friend that it should be, but could care less to be?

Changes to the contract must be made, and I hear Roysdale Forde, Esquire.  He is advised to squire his human assets and body armour wisely, develop eyes on the sides and back of his head.  He has to contend with internal competitors, and he must be ready to grapple in a more ferocious manner with the external army that is watching him, going to be arrayed against him.  There is the PPP brigade, and it is more than a dirty dozen.  There are Exxon’s imported mercenaries and its local co=conspirators.  Yes, there are those kinds of craven and maggot-infested Guyanese.  Mr. Forde has the spark of youth on his side, but does he have the stomach, the muscle, to face the day and carry the day when it dawns?  Another holding the highest oil office in this country also spoke like a champ about change to the contract when he was in the ranks of the opposition.  Today he is a chump on that same contract.  There is an old saying in Guyana that has taken on new meaning.  Anything for a dollar, anything to live and slave on another day.  Did some inquiring Guyanese ask what about Mr. Clean?  C’mon people, this is local politics and oil politics, and not something like kitchen detergents. Exxon’s Alistair Routledge is a proven sorcerer, and he has perfected his chemical concoctions.  One of them has to do with a special kind of printing ink.  It is invisible and inerasable, and of the kind for which the Bank of Guyana (or its US equivalent) has great demand.  Many a Guyanese politician from both sides of the political divide is perceived to have fallen prey to its aroma and allure.

Can Mr. Forde follow through on the ground that he has tilled?  Can he keep his hands clean and hold his head high?  Only then will his mind be free to work at 100 miles per hour like that man named Mohamed Ali.  The Louisville Lip, the Kentucky caballero, proved his worth in platinum.  Mr. Roysdale Forde, SC, MP, now has his turn to prove himself.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• Attorney General, GHK Lall, hard truths, intricate, Roysdale Forde

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