Dear Editor,
No one can sue you for libel if you publish your opinion that you find plausible and persuasive what Dr. Jan Mangal has written about Carl Greenidge. No one can sue you for libel if you write that Global Witness has made formidable accusations against Raphael Trotman’s behaviour in the Exxon deal that you find difficult to dismiss.
This columnist is openly saying that in his activism against the Jagdeo and Ramotar presidencies, he can find no corresponding accusations against any PPP minister the kind of which Global Witness has compiled against Trotman. My take on the issues involving both Greenidge and Trotman is that these should justify the national rejection of the APNU+AFC coalition in the March election.
I am a trained academic and my analyses lead me in the direction of describing the Exxon deal with the APNU+AFC regime as a national scandal that should cause an incumbent to lose power. You do not have these types of suspicions in a government and the electorate ignores them and returns the same actors to power. The Greenidge/Trotman types of controversies normally result in election defeat.
As an analyst I would put my bet on the Mangal-Greenidge exchange and the Global Witness finger-pointing as having an effect on how persons vote. As the days go by, it looks like the APNU+AFC may suffer a one-term nightmare.
Here is one of the reasons why the Greenidge/Trotman thing will topple the coalition. Every instance of ministers kowtowing to Exxon conjures up memories of what Guyana experienced under the PPP. Citizens say to each other, “Oh my God, this was just like under the PPP and it looks worse.” Guyanese have said that consistently since 2015 with the almost surreptitious salary increase for ministers including the colossal hike in the PM’s salary/pension.
The Mangal condemnation of Greenidge and Global Witness’s devastating chastisement of Trotman are the kind of stuff that creates anger in citizens because the key factor at work is betrayal. Citizens of post-colonial countries have an inherent suspicion that extraordinarily rich companies from the developed world are out to exploit their resources as they did when Europe was colonial masters.
Let us quote a redoubtable section of the report on Trotman by Global Witness that speaks to the issue of betrayal. “Global Witness believes the Guyanese government should investigate Trotman’s role in the 2016 Stabroek negotiations. If it is determined that he or others did not represent Guyana well during these negotiations, or there is other evidence of wrongdoing or incompetence, those involved should be held accountable.”
When citizens read those lines during an election campaign, there is bound to be rejection at the ballot station. Guyana is expected to lose 55 billion American dollars from the horribly poor signing agreement of 2016. This was revealed this week not by a propaganda unit of the PPP, not by the Kaieteur News or Stabroek News that this columnist believes the regime is uncomfortable with, not by Lenox Shuman or ANUG or Change Guyana but by a credible, respected international NGO – Global Witness.
We should not continue to see ministers like Greenidge and Trotman as the only suspicious actors in the government’s rendezvous of self-destruction with Exxon. As the Stabroek News editorial on Monday rightfully asked – where was Granger in all of this? It is difficult if not impossible to exonerate Granger in one of the worst government blunders in the history of colonial and post-colonial Guyana.
Here is a reflection of mine that no one has touched on. In his almost five-year-old presidency, Granger has hosted only two press conferences. It is possible that Granger knew the 2016 deal with Exxon was so horrible that it was the decisive factor in him not holding press conferences?
Was he afraid that with each press briefing, he would have to field questions on the 2016 infamy? If that is so, he has got away with it. All the journalistic research into the 2016 depravity centres on Cabinet ministers, and who went to this place and signed that contract but there is no mention of Granger and his role.
With the Global Witness report into Trotman’s conduct, Granger will have to answer questions. I find Global Witness’s call for government to investigate Trotman’s deportment actually comical. Global Witness should know it is not writing about some type of democratic polity where accountability is a strong instinct in leaders. Trotman at the 2016 local government campaign in Bartica told the crowd that when APNU+AFC won, Granger called him on the phone and said; “this is Nassau Raphael.” Both men are still to tell us what that means.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Kissoon
