We don’t need crumbs from Exxon

Dear Editor,

I was heartbroken after listening to the US Ambassador Her Excellency, telling Guyanese how thankful we should be for the generosity of Exxon Mobil, for sponsoring our cricket team and for donations to the University of Guyana, and further that to pursue renegotiations of that lopsided contract (not her words), would scare off other potential investors to Guyana. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to consult with knowledgeable persons at home and abroad, what Exxon Mobil is donating is at maximum two percent of the profits from the oil extracted. With the war in the Middle East and the harvesting of oil moving to one million barrels per day, two percent is high. Any patriotic government would have called in the oil giants to discuss new circumstances in the industry, whatever name you call it, is not important.

As a youngster I attended a bi-monthly lecture series in my community, we listened to the likes of Rashleigh Jackson, Oscar Clarke and others who told us that no agreement is ever cast-in-stone, and that as circumstances change, contracting parties must make adjustments. Reference was made to the establishment of the League of Nations in 1920, after the horrors of WW1. We know what happened, which led to the United Nations being established in October 1945, with the same objective of having a world of peace. In those and other instances, efforts were made to adjust or change agreements based on prevailing circumstances.

So, for the Ambassador to tell us that to even pursue renegotiation would scare potential investors away is a non-starter. The truth is we don’t need more investors in Guyana, what we need is better control of our financial and economic life. For the sake of argument, if this contention is valid, look around Guyana, a population of less than one million people, companies from every continent extracting our gold, and in some circumstances shamelessly creating apartheid type communities. In other cases, we see contractors and others busing aliens to worksites. We do not need more investors, what we need is a strong government to ensure that we secure better terms from those who are harvesting and extracting our bountiful natural resources. Cuffy, Akara, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, the Enmore Martyrs, Cheddi, and Forbes Burnham must be shedding tears as they see Guyana being recolonised with the aid of the present administration.

Guyanese must say to the Ambassador and her kith and kin, we don’t need charity, we can’t sit on the treasure of oil, gas, gold, diamonds, favourable weather conditions, and rich soil to be beggars, and to be happy with the proverbial crumbs from the master’s table. Crumbs admittedly that are much more than earlier times. But what we need is a reasonable slice of the cake, so that as a people we retain our pride and dignity. So that as a people, our children don’t tell us that we betrayed them. So that as a people, we remember the lingering attitude of the days of Jim Crow, the struggle of the civil rights movement a few generations ago, and our struggle for Independence.

I can write fearlessly, because to avoid being “iced” I avoid all US airports, even in transit.