Deserving better

Sep 15, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

---

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – Exxon Guyana’s president, Mr. Alistair Routledge cares about Guyanese.  He does and he said so in black and white.  In his letter to KN published on September 8, 2024, he wrote that “its readers deserve better.”  In the context of his anxieties and allegations of “misinformation the paper’s “readers deserve better.”  I never would have thought that Mr. Routledge’s care and compassion extended to the “readers” of KN.  Whoever they are, wherever they are.

Personally, I am delighted that this finds a place in Mr. Routledge’s priorities, bless his heart.  I am forced to rethink those harsh assessments of him.  That he is, deep down and through and through, a heartless, ruthless oilman.  That he is, body and soul, a scorched earth, take-no-prisoners capitalist man of the most sanguinary construction.  Now that I am corrected (as I have concluded) that Mr. Routledge does have a heart, since he is so concerned about KN’s readers, and the quality of the information that they receive, then I reassess him, and arrive at inspiring places.  Mr. Routledge is not a soulless man, nor an officer of Exxon limited to being a glistening rhetorical caricature.  And further, that Exxon does not fit the mold of what Thucydides said of the Athenians during the occupation of Melos: the strong do what they want, the weak suffer what they must.” The Exxon Guyana president put all that to bed; at least for the time being.  Because he has shown that the attributes that make for a real man, one that is more than a bloodless corporate man, one that is greater than a human calculator, is present in spades deep inside of him.  Remember, “readers deserve better.”  Hold that close, as I conduct an experiment with the new Alistair Routledge, this refreshing and remarkable man from Exxon.

Since KN’s “readers deserve better”, there is something that Mr. Routledge can do; more than one, as a matter of fact.  The KN’s readers of which he wrote must include some subset of the population of Guyana.  Not a small one by any chance, but one as big as it gets.  He can manifest how truly genuine he and his company are by doing what is better not just for KN’s readership, but for all Guyana.  Mr. Routledge, being the man of the world that he is, as well as a super corporate commander, should have latched onto the first whiffs of my drift. I invite Mr. Routledge to put his money where his mouth (pen) is.  Guyanese “deserve better.”  Pardon the license to broaden what the Exxon man put on paper to register his scowls of disapproval.  Now, I rain some specifics on him, not all, but just a randomly selected handful.

First, sir, what about those misleading billboards?  Why were those necessary, and didn’t Guyanese deserve better from Exxon?  Second, I read about the extensive and extended process involved in appraisals surrounding new oil discoveries here, as announced by Exxon itself.  I hear that appraisals take time (depends on who is doing the telling), but CNOOC does seem to have its own appraisal science and expertise to document estimates not for one, but two of the Exxon-announced discoveries thus far.  Don’t tell me that CNOOC doesn’t know what it is doing, and is spreading “misinformation” in the manner of KN?  I would say that Guyanese (if nobody else, then at least KN readers) deserve better.  Isn’t that so, Mr. Routledge, taking the liberty to leverage the words (his own) now imprinted in infamy?  Third, there have been these challenges, these bitter fights, over oil spill coverage, a full parent company no less, for all Guyanese.  Surely, this nation and its people “deserve better” than what Exxon has put on the table.  Given the KN contributor Alistair Routledge, I am positive beyond contradiction that there is nothing that would be a better expression of that than a full parent company guarantee, so that Guyanese could sleep better, be in a better state of mind, should an oil spill erupt.  Surely, whatever number of millions Exxon has crunched in its actuarial tables and supercomputers, great care was taken to weigh and measure and think of colored Guyanese like white people (Americans and Europeans) to ensure coming up with a number for that guarantee that treats them equivalently.  Meaning, that it is unlimited.  Taking care of 800,000 citizens (and intimate partners) in a reasonable and responsible manner would not bankrupt a corporate superpower like Exxon.  Fourth, since people in this country “deserve better” I recommend that those paid Exxon’s agents selling the deception of the goodness of the company to gullible Guyanese be withdrawn and put out of commission.  I hate to put people out of bread, but Guyanese “deserve better.”

Fifth, and this is going to put Mr. Routledge to the test, because I back him up against a wall.  He must prove the authenticity of his and his company’s position that there are those who “deserve better”.  It involves money.  In view of how Exxon prospers from Guyana’s high-quality, dirt-cheap oil, 2% does not cut it; 2% is an insult; 2% is an abomination; 2% is un-American.  Me and Exxon Guyana’s president, Mr. Alistair Routledge are as one when he wrote, advocated and insisted that Guyanese “deserve better.  Now prove it by delivering it on that richness, sir.

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

---

• Assessments, Exxon, GHK Lall, hard truths, priorities

---