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APNU and AFC should stop to look and listen instead of trying to railroad the PPP/C into renegotiation with Exxon

Jan 25, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor

Midway along the mile and a half burnt-clay-brick road leading into the sugarcane plantation community where we once lived, the Georgetown to Rosignol railway tracks ran across the road. At this railroad crossing juncture, the ‘Public Works’ authority placed two large warning signs on the shoulders of the road, one on each side of the tracks. The signs, written in bold, read: “RAILROAD CROSSING, STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN.” Customarily, my friends and I took pleasure in reading the signs aloud whenever we happened to be nearby. In 1972, Burnham suspended train operations and dismantled the railways, claiming that the rail travel-transportation system unprofitably overburdened the national economy.

Over the years, the warnings on the signs seldom crossed my mind. However, within recent months, the words STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN appear increasingly apt as a warning to Guyanese of every persuasion, given opposition advocates hyperbolic and incendiary rhetoric in electioneering campaigns. For example, many newspapers articles written by, or on behalf of APNU and AFC members, focused on discrediting the PPP/C for reluctance to renegotiate the lopsided Stabroek Block contract the APNU-AFC government negotiated and signed with Exxon in 2016.

Emboldened by their contemptable outcry for renegotiation, the APNU-AFCiers clearly exemplify the concept of ‘self-incrimination.’ Their vociferous unrestrained demand that the PPP/C government renegotiate terms of the Exxon contract calls into question whether the APNU-AFC government officials STOPPED to critically LOOK at the terms and conditions of the contract, or LISTENED to legal expert advice from experienced noteworthy individuals, before they dotted the “i’s” and CROSSED the “t’s” on the signature line. Had they STOPPED to LOOK, and LISTEN, they would have refrained from trying to RAILROAD the PPP/C into renegotiation that simply serves to disclose APNU-AFC’s ineptness as a governing body.

Devoid of substantive policy issues to authenticate their political rhetoric or legitimize their concerns to mount meaningful elections’ campaigns, it is not surprising that the APNU-AFC leaders revert to the clamor for Exxon renegotiation. And, when their efforts fail to mobilize support, they hurl insidious personal attacks particularly against the Vice President, and generally against the President.

Unable to influence increasing public support for renegotiation, opposition forces often resort to spouting divisive racist propaganda – a rancorous form of political rhetoric that often serve to encourage or incite open disturbances while providing fodder that fuels indifference and distrust for the government. Opposition forces fear that if they STOP their divisive propaganda campaigns, the PPP/C will continue to make constant inroads into APNU-AFC support base. This is especially so when they LOOK around, only to find that an increasing number of their supporters continue to enthusiastically greet and embrace President Ali as he strolls along areas considered APNU or AFC political strongholds. And if, and when APNU and AFC stalwarts LISTEN, they most likely shudder to hear commendations for the government coming from the mouths of many of their once devout followers.

Taken in totality, it appears that if opposition leaders honestly STOP to LOOK around, they cannot ignore the enormous national progress currently unfolding; and when they LISTEN – only to hear testimonies of praise for the PPP/C from their once devout constituents – they feel compelled to revert to the singular issue of Exxon renegotiation in hope that somehow it will serve to discredit the government. Hence, bent on railroading the PPP/C into renegotiation, they seldom STOP to LOOK and LISTEN before CROSSING the electoral railways on which the One Guyanese Unity train is barreling down at enormous speed.

Regards

Narayan Persaud, PhD

Professor Emeritus

(APNU and AFC should stop to look and listen instead of trying to railroad the PPP/C into renegotiation with Exxon)

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