Woods Relayed, Jagdeo Dismayed; Ali Delayed

By GHK Lall- I see a study in contrasts.  Exxon’s CEO Darren Woods burst out of his executive suite and conveyed the news.  Investment in Guyana fully recovered; all US$55 billion of it.  Two years early to crown some superb work.  Guyana’s CEO of Oil, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, barricaded himself behind steel fences and locked doors.  He hasn’t shown his face, said a word, on that Exxon investment development.  See what I mean by the foreign CEO conveyed, the local CEO delayed?  A study in contrasts, if ever there was one.

It took Guyana’s other CEO, Pres Irfaan Ali to break away from his government’s delay and relay that Guyana is finally in the money and collecting 39.5 percent in profits.  I am still working through what made that so hard to say so.  Now checkout this other contrast: Exxon was proud to proclaim to the world that its investment came back into the house bank a full two years ahead of time.  On the Guyana side, it took 18 days before the PPP Govt, through CEO Ali, to break its silence on what has to qualify as an extraordinary event in Guyana’s ongoing oil story.

One CEO recouped his billions two years before schedule.  The Guyanese CEO took almost two years to repeat the same grand news to his people.  The 18-day delay to cut through the profit silence equates to almost two years by my reckoning.  Each day of silence was the equivalent of a monthlong delay.  This was news that belonged with Guyanese.  More than three times the oil earnings of the first six years of oil production must be a giant leap for Guyana, a great moment for Guyanese.  Why withhold?  How can there be silence?  Exxon’s investment repaid and Guyana set to climb the profit ladder cannot be a national security secret.  How so?  Who is so, ah, sloppy, to say so?

Before proceeding, permit me.  Appreciate and repeat for the record that Mr. Darren Woods was also selling himself as due for a nice raise for his lovely work.  Appreciate also that it took the PPP Govt so much time to decide what to say to Guyanese.  Three times present oil collections and then some more must have set the wheels spinning in Freedom House.  What to do with all these new US billions tumbling into the Oil Fund?

In circumstances such as these, temptations soar.  National development priorities have proven to be a dud, worn thin.  I empathize.  A cash grant only utilizes so many US millions.  For the first time, I heard Pres Ali mentioning structure.  It seems that the MV Barima disaster jarred him awake, stuck some wisdom in him.  Too late.  A legacy that was pathetic to begin with, now in tatters.  To quote local lingo: dem nah gah watah fuh wash am.  Play with fire.  End up in the crematory.

Nobody can say that I didn’t warn the PPP, which is why Dr. Jagdeo is so wrapped in silence at this exciting juncture.  He is working diligently to hold the party together.  Amid a sea of blatant corruption, ongoing starvation in sections of the population, and political families enriched from left to right to stragglers, the PPP General Secretary doesn’t have time for oil.  He either gets the party faithful in line quickly and conclusively, or many of his people (and others closer to home) could be looking at jail time.  He knows that, which is why he has been missing in action from the conversation about 39.8 percent in profits.

A strange country this Guyana of ours.  Master presenter Darren Woods was all excitement about collecting back his company’s US$55 billion.  In contrast, Guyana with more billions coming in from a greater surge in American dollars is glummer than Droopy, that sad cartoon canine, and dimmer than Cinderella after she lost her slipper when the dancing was over.  For people who love money, it’s a strange way in which the PPP celebrates Guyana’s change in fortunes.  Woods was all bubbly.  Ali was no less than rusty.  Something tells me that Guyanese are in trouble with their 39.8 percent windfall.