Hail the Judiciary-fail the leaders

Jun 14, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The important issue for parent guarantee full coverage insurance, although still not finalised, went in favour of Guyanese and the lawyers fighting for Guyana as per the two judges’ rulings so far. There were some notable responses to these judges’ rulings, like the internet trolls are now targeting Melinda Jankie with the same vile as they did to KN’s Davina Bagot and Kiana Wilburg. I hope trolls can say why their party is better than parent guarantee full coverage insurance for Guyana, and can you trolls not see if Guyanese leaders do the right things, they will make more money for themselves and all Guyanese and walk with their proud heads high? rather than reducing themselves to this current pitiful, pathetic, and spineless excuse for human beings with their sellouts to foreigners.

As reported by Demerara Waves on the Judges’ rulings, ExxonMobil’s Alistair Routledge indicated Exxon and Guyana would suffer significant financial losses. Mr. Routledge added the revenue loss to Exxon and more importantly to Guyana will have serious implications and devastating consequences in the event of a permit suspension, since a well blowout or an environmental disaster was unlikely, yes, another vintage Exxon deception speech. Like trained animals, Guyana’s President, VP, AG, Chamber of Commerce, and Private Sector Commission Leaders repeated the words of Exxon’s Routledge as if they were all given the same script written for them. Mr. Routledge also said Guyana’s EPA could be considered an expert body “which ought to have prompted judicial restraint.”, yet if this EPA was headed by Dr. Vincent Adams, Routledge would have probably called for the EPA to be restrained by the judiciary or someone else. We can understand Mr. Routledge’s multi-tongue deceptions since he represents ExxonMobil’s shareholders who will award and reward him for fighting for them, but why do Guyana’s political and business leaders chorus his song as if they are also representing ExxonMobil’s shareholders and not Guyanese?

The standard business operating procedure at parliament which includes both opposition and government for foreign companies, is that these companies nor their employees pay no taxes to Guyana, pay no import or export duties, they provide no production data on their operations as they are exempt from regulations and monitoring, they have non-compliance with Guyana’s labour, environmental and insurance laws and no compensation provided for other damages perpetuated on Guyanese society from their operations as highlighted by Glenn Lall, like the traffic congestion. The deviousness done by MPs for foreign companies against Guyanese only get exposed by court cases, and if the courts order foreign companies to comply with Guyana’s inadequate and outdated laws, we hear the same excuse of how foreign companies and Guyana will lose money.

These business arrangements between MPs and foreign companies going on for decades now, have given Guyanese debt instead of wealth, and this is obvious based on those business terms mentioned earlier, in this case, if foreign companies don’t want to comply with Guyana’s inadequate and outdated laws, they should carry out their threats to pack up and leave and do so immediately. These business arrangements also make ordinary Guyanese victims of inverted, upturned, or bend-over economics, where Guyanese wealth of oil and resources are the investment instruments, where Guyanese resource wealth, tax dollars and incurred debt provides funding, where Guyanese assumes the risk and losses and where Guyanese suffer the environmental and other consequences of oil and resource operations, while the foreigners and the local leaders take the majority of the gains and profits.

The President who said Guyana got the wrong end of the stick of the oil contract and he will change that, did change it, to now Guyana has lost the grip of even the wrong end and now holding no stick. The VP who said he will fight for Guyana’s patrimony and ran around with election SOPs during the elections shouting he is fighting for Guyanese rights, is now like the emperor without clothes, as the walls of broken promises, lies, and deceptions are crumbling around him. If it is true that employees of GPC and other state entities wanted to buy shares from these entities for ownership, which the VP gave to private parties instead, along with the new contract terms of oil blocks other than the Stabroek Block clearly shows the VP know exactly what Guyana needs, but doing about turns like a marching soldier when it comes to Guyanese interests, this makes him smarter yet more dangerous than dunces as dunces don’t know better unlike him.

The business associations’ leaders never take Guyana’s oil and resource wealth in their business plans, making them the only ones in the world to do so in their own country. In all this, the opposition leaders stay silent like dead animal carcasses lying on the roadside. Guyana’s protection from exploitation can be given a big boost if only the Attorney General works with the Judiciary to update and enforce Guyana’s inadequate and outdated laws, instead, the AG’s loyalties are with those exploit Guyana leaving the Judiciary alone fighting for concerned Guyanese, so to this, we must all say with one voice “Hail the Judiciary-Fail the Leaders”.

Regards,

R. David.

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• Davina Bagot, Exxon, Glenn Lall, Guyanese, Kiana Wilburg, R. David.

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