The third best option

Oct 06, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths…

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – Chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Chevron Corporation, Mr. Michael Wirth, had four choices for adviser on relations with the PPP Government of Guyana.  He decided on the third best choice, which came in the illuminating presence of the CEO of Hess Corp, Mr. John Hess.  He came out behind two of Guyana’s best, and ahead of Guyana’s fourth wheel in the PPP Government’s two-wheeled donkey cart.

The first and best choice for adviser on PPP Government relations would have been Vice President, former president, and chief oil mandarin Dr, Bharat Jagdeo.  But he was already occupying that position in an unrecognized advisory capacity for Exxon, Hess, and the Red Chinese.  Mr. Alistair Routledge of Exxon Guyana fame has declared himself well pleased.  It should be noticed that given his commanding power in Guyana, Mr. Routledge fancies himself to be God among these natives.  He has the aura of Almighty God (“well pleased”), like when John baptized his beloved Jesus in a pool of water in what is now called the Holy Land.  The same place now wrenched by airborne massacres, genocidal armaments compliments of Americans, and holocausts that do not have a German or Rwandan or Yugoslavian name among them.  What Dr. Jagdeo gets in return for his yeoman service to Guyana’s three-headed consortium master is not of the stuff that makes it into official papers, such as income statements (or tax returns).  Just being in their company is joyful return enough for Jagdeo.

The next best man for the job of adviser to Chevron on how the PPP Government thinks, how it works (and how demanding the self-serving expectations of some of its members) would have been Guyana’s head of state, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.  The concern for the Chevron chair and CEO is that he is too prone to a rush of blood to the head.  On occasion, Guyana’s top big man has been known to lose control of his head and his tongue.  The record is there, and for an adviser, the sturdiest key is self-control, slowness to anger, even if provoked.  From Mr. Wirth’s perspective, Dr. Ali simply would not do.  It is just too risky; there is too much concern that the Guyana’s president could lose his mind and let loose with a double-barreled blast, which could yield untold damage to the Exxon, Chevron and American baby party.  So, it is out with Excellency Ali, and in with the more reliable guy.  Excellency Ali has his uses, and those are worth (no play on Mr. Michael Wirth) their weight in the sum of all those fully loaded oil boat plying back and forth out there in Guyana’s waters.

Before addressing the choice of John Hess as the best man in the four-man contest for adviser on sensitive Government of Guyana relations, a word of condolence is necessary to account for the fourth man, who lost out.  He is none than the forlorn figure of the honorable Minister of Natural Resources, Dr. Vickram Bharrat.  This guy has a lot going for him, but he just can’t seem to get going, thanks to the overpowering shadow of one Bharat Jagdeo.  As the subject/responsible minister, Mr. Bharrat is the man closest to the nuts and bolts of the vast and impressive natural resources portfolio.  At least, he should be.  But unfortunately, given the way that governance in Guyana operates since oil showed its face from beyond the horizon his duties are on paper only.  Minister Bharrat is not a paper tiger; he is a paperweight.  Courtesy and compassionate respect prevented from sharing the thought that he has been leveled to a rank lower than paperweight: he functions as a paperclip.  His is not stainless steel, but Teflon coated.  Anything and everything roll right off him.  So, Dr. Vickram is out as adviser on PPP Government relations with Chevron.  He should count himself lucky, for constitutional and possibly ethical conflicts have been avoided.

By process of circumstances and elimination, Mr. Hess floated to the top and is back in the center of the great Guyana oil game.  It may not be in the vicinity of the Afghan’s Kyber Pass, but it is what passes for the purity of oil governance in Guyana.  Oil advisory relations also, lest we forget.  Mr. Hess is the man and even if he comes up short on his Hess to Chevron sale, he would have earned the distinction of being a special friend of Guyana.  Think the PPP Government, for in the mind of the likes of its glorious sons, Dr. Ali and Dr. Jagdeo, the PPP is Guyana and Guyana is the PPP.  Only what they say goes.  Perhaps, this helps to shed some light on that calculating construction encircled by President Ali’s ‘One Guyana’ verbal sleight of hand.  Last, John Hess didn’t come from a footballing family for nothing.  His pedigree goes back to parental ownership of 1967 Superbowl winner, the New York Jets.  For sure, it is American football (NFL), but that comes in handy considering the corporate football that both Guyana and Guyana governments have become, with a bow to the PNC, AFC, and PPP.  Now, Mr. Hess sits in the driver’s seat, with a foot in two boats: one for Chevron (or Exxon) and the other straight into Freedom House’s boat, the Irfaan Ali showboat, and the Bharat Jagdeo love boat (“investors spook easily,” but investors are adorable).  All Hess must do is zip his lips and collect his cash.  Or share Chevron’s cash handouts.  Please don’t ask for names.

 

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• Chairman, Dr. Vickram Bharrat, Guyana’s, members, perspective, Red Chinese

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