From one sacred cow to another untouchable

Dec 01, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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…Hard Truths

By GHK Lall

 Kaieteur News- The president has immunity, so it is not him.  Though ministers of the PPP Government do not operate under the cover of official immunity, for all intents and purposes, they enjoy that immunity.  Seized it for themselves, for their cavalier approach to morals, ethics, and standards.  Or they have had such immunity granted to them by one who has no such power to grant any such thing.  Guess who?  It is the same leader who has attached total immunity to himself.  So, if it is any of these bright political stars of Guyana, then who and what is so sacred that they (or it) qualifies for the homage of sacred cow, and the untouchability that goes along with that sacredness?

C’mon fellow citizens, do I have to do everything around here, especially the harder jobs?  The dreadful Exxon contract, its 2016 masterpiece, is a sacred cow.  There should be no arguments on that score.  President Ali himself said so, when he spoke glowingly (and approvingly) about “sanctity of contract.”  I would, too, if I know that in doing so with that repugnant and racist white man contract that my bread would be well buttered.  Never have to worry about either bread or butter.  So, there is that first sacred cow in the form of the Exxon contract.  Think of how abusive and shameless a man like Mr. Alistair Routledge must be to hang that contract over the heads of Drs. Ali, Jagdeo, Nandlall, Norton, and Hughes, and still call himself a partner of both them and Guyanese.

It takes an illustrious character, and Mr. Routledge has the caliber, to be that kind of man.  It is why he was dispatched from the Confederate State of Texas to teach the natives in Guyana who is their master.  In a toddler’s medicine measuring cup, the sacredness of that Exxon contract takes precedence over the sacredness of Guyana’s sovereignty.  And everybody is happy to dance on their heads about that abomination.  Everybody, except me, to set the record straight.  To cut a fine point on this, and to make it personal, Mr. Routledge’s contract is so offensive to me that I would not want to be within a hundred miles of wherever he is.  The contract is, but not Mr. Routledge, may everyone be reassured.

One sacred cow occupying such a huge national space is a terrible thing to contemplate.  It is appalling enough that I often speculate how my contemporaries can rest their consciences or their tired minds while that contract remains in existence.  This odious Exxon contract is almost as big as the Venezuelan claim that hangs over Guyana’s head, cramps its breathing.  And just as cleverly conceived, given continued life.  Somehow, Guyanese are living quietly with that strangest of sacred cows (Exxon’s contract).  One sacred cow may be claimed by some to have the profound about it.  Of course, that depends on which side of the milking they are.  But if one sacred cow is slowly rising to the high tide of the unthinkable, then a second sacred cow must be unacceptable.  Yes, it would that profaning.  How many untouchables can Guyanese live with, absorb without too much of a stirring?  Insofar as this contract goes, there cannot and must not be any more space for another untouchable in this country.  The problem is that there is, and it is right under the eyelashes of all citizens: partisans and patriots, born of the land, or converted through a paper process.

It is that call, that push for a referendum on renegotiation, that represents the presence of a second sacred cow, a second untouchable.  To get to a referendum process is in and of itself an untouchable for Excellencies Ali and Jagdeo.  In this particular circumstance, the employment of ‘excellencies’ is scandalous, if not poisonous.  A referendum on renegotiation of the despicable Exxon contract has transformed into the equivalent of a venereal disease for some of the leading political lights in Guyana, a pox on their days.  They try to run from it.  Diminish it.  Deny it.  Listen to Dr. Jagdeo.  He conjures one absurdity after another.

In this sovereign nation, the type of sovereignty and the extent to which it can be exercised are now vested in the hands of Exxon’s Guyana President, the ubiquitous and omnipotent Alistair Routledge.  With this in mind, I now put something before my fellow citizens.  Jagdeo (and Ali) would never (never) agree to a referendum on renegotiation, but if he did, it would have to be presented to Mr. Alistair Routledge to get his nod of approval.  In fact, I should correct myself.  Mr. Routledge is a Holy Bull.  The Exxon contract is a sacred cow.  And a referendum would the third rail -another untouchable.  Some Guyanese may be asking themselves, if this can really be where matters stand in Guyana with this oil.  It is.  Believe it.  Study Jagdeo and observe how a referendum reduces him to a basket case. Ask Nandlall about it, and he is likely to become a legal hardcase.  Put it to Excellency Ali and he could mutate into a psychiatric case.  Let a referendum happen and let Guyanese have their say drives an unholy fear into those leaders.  A referendum is untouchable because it could bring down all he political Humpty-Dumpties in Guyana.  Dem ain’t ridin pun dah cow, like the calypsonian sang.

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

(From one sacred cow to another untouchable)

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• dreadful Exxon contract, hard truths, Ministers, PPP Government

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