Trust betrayed; trust destroyed

Aug 17, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – “Review and renegotiate.” Three little words. Like heartfelt promises to “love and obey.” When they are shattered, then walked allover, then mocked, then disowned, “review and renegotiate” represent much more than three words reinforcing ironclad commitments. “Review and renegotiate” then embody a failure of will, a betrayal of trust, the destruction of trust.

The president uttered those three fateful words. Vice President Jagdeo said the same three. Both were taken for granted as honourable men then. What kind of men since? Unless my hearing, unless my faculty (of reading and understanding, are not of yore, the president and vice president promised, committed, swore that, given a chance, they were going to “review and renegotiate” from oil contract to gold contract to their contract with the Guyanese people. The head-of-state had informed Guyanese that he is busy (a million matters a minute). Memory fails under such pressures, things committed to get lost in the shuffle, the races to address other priorities. After all, whether head-of-state or headcase, the head can only hold so much. Whether that is so or not, that’s not my concern. The president has a problem. It looms large today. He asked the Guyanese people to believe in him, to trust him, to “review and renegotiate.” Guyanese did. And what did Guyanese get for the investment of their precious trust? They got a new slate, one with three fresh words. Sanctity of contract. Thus, the sacred trust of Guyanese betrayed and destroyed. And by whom of all people? When a man, whether a national leader or a universal loser, gives his solemn word, he must move heaven and earth to keep it. Only death releases him from that bond given. It must be honoured, whatever the sacrifice required. They tell me that the president is an honourable citizen. I pocket my pen. For there is this yawning gap, this profound void that is also perverse. Whither fulfillment of commitment to “review and renegotiate.” But now the president is back, and he is smarter this time: bland, careful, verbally stealthy, picking safe places to rest his head, present his promises. In a fingernail, it is trust me. This once. This last time.

Vice President Jagdeo, a man no less honourable also placed his hand on the Communist Manifesto miraculously translated to the Wealth of Nations and took an oath to “review and renegotiate.” All Guyanese knew what, and what that meant for them. They are still waiting five years later. Guyanese count their losses. Promise eroded and discarded. I suggest erecting that one on Exxon’s billboard, or on top of the PPP elections manifesto. Trust violated and invalidated. Whether a king or a common man or woman, their trust should never be mangled in such a contemptuous manner. I think, therefore I assert, that when there is a violation of trust that signals a probable decline into corruption of character. At least, there are indications of corruption of the spirit.

As an aside, a stranger came to my door yesterday and said his daughter has to have surgery. He had a ragged piece of paper in his hands. I gave him the dollar that I was able to spare. For a daughter’s surgery, or for some other type of sickness? Actions are better proofs than words. His, I may never know, for he could be lost in the wide ether of the environment. Neither the president nor the vice president has that luxury for their cry to ‘trust me’ to review and renegotiate was public, is still global. The bill is still due. And now the Guyanese people have a day of reckoning to face. Mice and men may mumble and mangle, and leave in a maimed state. But a sitting head-of-state and a former one has a special category reserved for their princely echoes, their national shadows. Those have been contorted and driven to wretchedness in the past five years. By the tarnishing of their own oaths, and in the self-incriminating and self-destructive lava that has spilled from their lips. Like a man who owes a debt that he cannot repay (or refuses to honour), so the president and vice president hide themselves from review and renegotiate. They said it, not I, sire.

After five years of disowning the trust, they asked Guyanese to give them, they are back bigtime. Trust me. Trust us. The Americans have a saying, which they could confirm with Exxon’s majestic Alistair Routledge. Spit on me once, it’s your fault. Spit on me twice, surely that crap is not being tried again on me. It’s where the president and vice president are in this un-silly season. Try sick season, sicker promises. Trust me. Trust betrayed before (review and renegotiate); trust destroyed. Still both men return. Trust me. (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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