Dear Editor,
In Guyana we sing “Christmas comes once a year, and everybody must have a share, everybody must have their rum and ginger beer.”
While Guyanese hope for a special time of eating and drinking and merriment on Christmas day, for the oil companies, every day is Christmas Day. While our Guyanese people make sacrifices to have an enjoyable Christmas for one day of the year, the oil companies and their shareholders are living large every day. We are not getting a fair share. Guyana is their milking cow that gives and keeps on giving abundantly to them, not to our Guyanese people. And our two main political parties are OK with such a sad state of affairs. They both privately promised Exxon during the 2020 elections they will not renegotiate. The PNC never promised they will renegotiate, but the PPP did and used the Global Witness report to condemn the PNC for signing the worst oil deal in the world and selling out the country. The PNC’s Mr. Norton has not responded whether he had indeed met with Exxon/oil companies’ officials after his appointment as Opposition Leader. (See “Did Opposition Leader Norton meet with Exxon officials in the USA?” – KN, Jun 22, 2022).
To make it simple, if the income from oil were 100 coconuts, Exxon gets 75 coconuts to cover its expenses, and gets an additional 11 and a half coconuts in profit (a total of 86 and a half coconuts). Guyana gets 2 coconuts in royalty and 11 and a half coconuts in profit (a total of 13 and a half coconuts). It can never be acceptable to any Guyanese, any political leader, and any party that wants to rule over us to leave the status quo with regards to the abundance of 11+ billions of barrels of oil in the large Stabroek Oil Block. Our oil and gas resources are mostly benefitting the oil barons, leaving the masses of impoverished Guyanese to hope for Santa Claus cash grant pittances and bonuses.
In the New Year, we must redouble our commitment to overturn the bad oil deals in the Stabroek Block, although the Government and Opposition have vowed not to renegotiate. Government must know the impact of “Peoples Power.” If the Government thinks it can campaign that it will “review and renegotiate” the worst oil deal in the world and then renege when it got into Government, we must show that is not acceptable. It can never be right that rapacious corporations receive enormous profits from our oil revenues and Guyana gets crumbs that fall from the masters’ tables. Our abundant natural resources must give us the good life now. We cannot defer our gratification any longer. Nation, the KN, SN, and nationalist commentators have given us enough information and analysis to educate us that we are getting the short end of the oil stick. We must not rest until all the bad provisions of the oil contracts are remedied. We must support all efforts to change the contracts. It’s our wealth and our country, and we must care. Every day should be Christmas for us, not for the oil companies. Wake up Guyana!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
