… From PNC, or on it?
Well, look what happened heah! Joe Harmon – Guyana’s longtime Opposition Leader (Guy LOO) – has written to Exxon’s Chairman demanding that he and his “Shadow Energy Minister” David Patterson and other MPs meet with their local subsidiary. When your Eyewitness saw the headline, his eyes lit up since he finally figured out that the PNC owed the disastrous contract their “negotiator” Raphael Trotman had signed for oil.
With their clearly superior knowledge of why Trotman gave away the shop (and then some!), They were the only ones who could get Exxon back to the table to RENEW the contract! Did Trotman get some “incentives” under the table besides the win and eat and 5 star hotel accommodation? Did Harmon have some information on what offshore bank accounts these “incentives” might have presented?
Did they have knowledge that Trotman lacked the “ability” to sign a valid contract? We know he wasn’t a minor … but did he lack “mental capacity”? Was he under the influence of “drugs or alcohol”? These would all be grounds for making the contract “void”
After all, all these Guyanese “oil experts” – especially from “foreign” ones – insist on “renegotiation”. But the PPP has been balking – distracting (not unreasonably) as the contract is a valid one as far as they know, Exxon had to have made some significant breach to require renegotiation. The problems with the compressor and torch are not sufficiently “material” – contrary to the claims of the “foreign armchair experts” above.
Did Harmon seize the opportunity to pull the rug out from under the PPP’s feet and close that 5000 vote gap between PPP and PNC votes? Nah… that couldn’t be because it would mean that Harmon’s admittance to his election petition was “cock” and Irfaan Ali is not just a contingent President but an ABSENCE! But as your Eyewitness went beyond the headline, he realized that Harmon was only talking about the torch because of the still problematic compressor.
But the PPP has already made their dissatisfaction known about the blaze and Exxon has reduced production by 75 percent to produce the least amount of connected natural gas. So what exactly does Harmon accomplish with his “calling”. Well, your Eyewitness will tell you what. He realizes that he has moved into oblivion in the public consciousness – including his own foundation – and is desperately seeking “gas” to save himself.
His tactic of “not recognizing” Irfaan Ali as President by insisting that he is the “LOO” – through the same election process – has been exposed to general snickers.
He clearly wants to enjoy the pay, office and benefits of the LOO, but not the responsibility to be a “loyal opposition”.
What a joker!
… On dams and access
They say “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. With Upper Corentyne rice farmers ‘complaints about the appalling condition of their roads to their crops in the “back dam”, we might draw the authorities’ attention that an “cultivated coastal road is worth two in the savannahs mermaid intermediate ”. The point is that rice farmers on our coast have built and sustained the largest agricultural industry in the country on their own – even as the sugar industry entered a tailing tail after the PNC ministries in the 1970s .
They have increased their production to over 600,000 tonnes which puts us in the top 15 rice exporters in the world, bringing in US $ 222 million in 2019 !! Here’s a big bird in the hand! We’ve heard about the Government’s $ 500 million committed to roads and other infrastructure to facilitate US $ 25 million production in soya and corn.
Let’s get those coastal roads from farm to market stable !!
… On personal crime
We are losing our perspective on the rise in crimes against people. In the recent robbery of city businessman Mattai, some suggest he should have had an automatic gate opener.
Where do we stop after grilled doors and windows, CCTV and high fences ?.