OMAI and Guyana’s politics

Dec 17, 2025 Editorial, News

Kaieteur News) – Guyana is such a democracy that anyone from anywhere feels free to come here and have their say on its politics. They give themselves licence to enter into the fray and take a stand in Guyana’s nasty, divisive politics.

Which foreign company, foreign investor presence in Guyana, would be comfortable doing so, and not caring about the appearance of their posture, however benign, however nuanced, it is made to be? OMAI Gold Mines Corp., (OMAI) through its Chief Executive Officer, Elaine Ellingham, recently threw caution to the winds and dipped her toe into Guyana’s politics, and on the side of the Irfaan Ali-spearheaded People’s Progressive Party. She wasn’t the first, and the odds are that she will not be the last.

Ellingham may think that she is sophisticated and her words had all the suppleness of a veteran diplomat. But there can be no doubt that what she came out and said on behalf of OMAI has the strong taint of going too far in Guyana’s ugly politics. “I was very confident because I mean, I think you’ve probably noticed President Irfaan Ali gets quite a bit of profile on the international stage because of the oil and gas business, but he’s a very impressive guy.” To her credit, she waited until after the elections to publish what can only be interpreted as slick and self-serving corporate public relations at its best.

The other side of that is that many would be on solid grounds to conclude that what Ms. Ellingham said qualified as calculating company propaganda, political fawning for profit purposes. The standard is that when in Rome do as the Romans do. Neither Ellingham nor OMAI is Roman, as far as we can determine, but there was her imitation.

What’s next for OMAI and Ellingham, a red mascot, a cup for a logo, running around and running off at the mouth selling One Guyana, on behalf of the PPPC Government, and President Ali, whom she admires so much?

Ellingham is in good company, because if Guyanese can recall, it was Hess Corp’s CEO, John Hess, who couldn’t help himself from shouting to the skies about how great Guyana’s democracy is. So great that some senior figure in the same PPPC apparatus could ‘guarantee’ a judicial decision before the presiding judge or higher court had arrived at a ruling.

For its part, the much savvier ExxonMobil and its man-of-the-world Country Head in Guyana, Alistair Routledge, were far more wary of publicly coming out on one side or another in Guyana’s dirty, bitterly polarized politics. Not even a quick snippet on elections, before or after, because Routledge was smart enough to navigate around that, not touch that with a ten-foot pole. Routledge may be many things that are detrimental to the interests of Guyanese, but he will not do a single thing that could be to the later detriment of ExxonMobil. Not even by a seeming slip of the tongue, not even in his sleep.

But OMAI’s Elaine Ellingham did that with her eyes wide open, and with words to match. However subtle (and it wasn’t), and however sideways (and it wasn’t) what Ellingham delivered in the public domain had all the elements of an audible and vigorous endorsement of the PPPC. What the US Ambassador in Guyana, Excellency Nicole D. Theriot, did not go near, at any time, Ellingham was bold enough shrug off and go there.

Into Guyana’s politics, taking the PPPC’s side as the best possible government for Guyana. We assert that her corporate love song dedicated to President Irfaan Ali stands as the essence of a full-fledged commercial and endorsement of the PPPC.

Almost half of this oil rich and gold rich country is hungry to some extent, and Ellingham pretended that’s nonexistent. Almost half of this country’s electorate harbours the worst sentiments about the PPPC leadership, and that is of no standing to Ellingham. So long as the wheels are greased with cheap contracts and a free hand to enrich themselves, the Ali-spearheaded PPPC is the best. Today it is OMAI and Ellingham, tomorrow there could be more like her coming out of the corporate closet and jumping feetfirst into Guyana’s politics for the PPPC.

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Editorial, Guyana politics, Omai, PPPC

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