Powerboat, Power Negotiation

Jul 01, 2026 Editorial, News

Kaieteur Sports – “You negotiate with the people. And we are back and forth. They give their position. We say, fine, we give you a position. It was very difficult. You bet your bottom dollar. Our government led by President Ali, we made sure that we took some strong positions on negotiation.”

There are so many flaws and contradictions in those representations of Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar. It would have been more helpful to the PPP/C Government’s reputation if he had taken another position. He certainly opened up President Ali for renewed scrutiny. The type of critical scrutiny that is faithful to the destiny of all citizens. Not what is productive to PPP/C Government (and the president’s) interests. Minister Indar spoke in the context of the negotiations with Turkish powerboat officials for the continuation of electricity supplies at a mutually acceptable price. We at this paper take his own words and examine them beyond electricity.

Minister Indar said: “you negotiate with the people. And we are back and forth.” The government, the president, has feared to take that precise action the minister raved about. When it is ExxonMobil and its 2016 oil contract that damages Guyana so much that is involved. Was it not Ali himself, who made his position so clear, that it brooked no argument, no room for maneuvering different? It was, indeed, Ali who committed to ‘reviewing and renegotiating’ all contracts. Whatever he had in mind, all contracts had to include the oil contract penned almost exclusively by ExxonMobil and pushed into the face of the APNU+AFC Coalition. The PPP/C Government, and its president for six years, promised to reverse the economic tragedy that the former APNU+AFC government inflicted on every citizen of Guyana, born and unborn.

In sharp contradiction to Minister Indar’s statement, “you negotiate with the people” that never got off the ground, never tried the first word. Not even to test what opening could be possible, through sheer spirit, and fierce energy. Lost was what could be had, however minimal. President Ali, with the full backing of his vice presidents, and the cabinet, came up with they all believed would carry the day. Sanctity of contract was what the president fastened himself to, became comfortable in the protection that it offered the ruling party (his), and the presidency (his own). National interests distilled to the cheapness of the paramountcy of the PPPC’s interests. That is where the issue of the national shame of the 2016 ExxonMobil contract has stalled. It could be that is the nature of “you negotiate with the people” that Minister Indar had in mind. It is what now characterises governance and leadership Guyana. It could be rich gold lands, it could be vast, still undisclosed and unknown, oil assets.

Minister Indar then said: “we are back and forth.” That is with the Turkish powerboat people. Was there ever one posture, one word, by the PPP/C Government, that represented the “back and forth” relative to the ExxonMobil oil contract? Maybe, “sanctity of contract” represented the “back and forth”, of which he spoke so boldly relative to electricity. The problem, and it is one at crisis proportions, is that the PPP/C Government, as led by President Ali, has dug a deep hole for itself. The words and postures, intended to inspire confidence, fall right back on the heads of the president and his ministers. When they cannot produce, or when they hide from delivering.

Minister Indar also said: “It is very difficult.” That is what governance is all about. That is why ambitious individuals hold themselves out as leadership material. One difficult issue after another, challenging the fortitude and courage of those the people elect. If they cannot take the heat, they should get out of the kitchen. The ExxonMobil contract would be a difficult negotiation. But the contract opens a door to that kind of discussion happening. To local disappointment, the government detected the difficulties. To its self-inflicted humiliation, it decided that taking the easy way out of those negotiation difficulties was best for its interests. Finding favour with ExxonMobil and staying in power. Minister Indar’s words have many applications. When avoided, they come back to haunt government and president.

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Editorial, GPL, Power Negotiation, Powerboat

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