Close Exxon operations until the torch is stable
Kaieteur News – Which patriotic Guyanese were concerned about Guyana’s current and long-term well-being, and its citizens and prospects who might have a problem with a national call of thought to shut down Exxon operations until it solves the gas flailing problem? We would have thought no one, but there are more than a few, that one body and its Guyanese spokesman went public to voice condemnation of the call for Exxon to be forced to shut down its operations and tackle ‘ r the issue of flaring gas. .
For some mysterious reason that may not be in the best interest of Guyana, the President of the Guyana Chamber of Oil and Gas Energy (GOGEC), Mr Manniram Prashad, took exception to what the former EPA chief of this country, Dr. Vincent Adams, publicly recommended. That is, shut down Exxon’s production until it does the right thing, what circumstances force it to do, given what is happening and where things stand with gas blazing in the wells and the atmosphere 125 miles out from our shores. The GOGEC president was of the view that Dr. Adams is “extreme” (KN February 20).
Surely this can’t be happening? Surely any Guyanese should delve into what protects Guyana’s current and future welfare and prospects? What could be wrong about that call from Dr. Adams? What’s so “extreme” about it? Let us be as clear as we can, by reminding all Guyana, and the rest of the interested world, that this is how powerful and slick oil companies operate, what deep pocket oil majors promise so much that local elites and the local good- their location can benefit from oil developments that are no longer prone to either reason than what the country first and all citizens should always be concerned with.
Instead, it’s about what helps their cause, their visions, their drives, their potential profits. Exxon’s oil history and presence in the world have left a litany of compromises and corruptions of political leadership, local elite abduction, and mutual hostility of citizens in divided societies. We invite both those who agree and those who disagree to examine our current circumstances, and challenge us in this paper about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of what has happened and continues to is currently under development.
Our political leaders cannot speak, because they are shaken and forced to sit down as docile prisoners. This is the self-discrimination whose oil mishaps are plastered on their foreheads and stacked on their pathetic heads. Their knees can’t hold them up, so they can stand up to Exxon and the others. Our local elites, operating under one agency building after another, have already sold their souls for the exxon attractively held streams of money. It is a sad and sad day, when one Guyanese finds it appropriate to face another Guyanese in defense of a predatory and arrogant foreign oil company.
This is what the oil powers have done in Nigeria (where North and South are in a state of virtual civil war). This is what was executed in Angola (how well did the de Santos father and daughter chronicles). This is what’s at work next door in Venezuela (where those neighbors rail and rally each other, then rally against those who stand for something). It is becoming clearer and clearer that keen Exxon laid the foundation well by sowing the same divisive seeds here that set Guyanese against Guyanese.
Surely there must be something about a country left behind. The only way we are prepared to interpret the GOGEC leader’s view that the call for closure is “extreme” is to lose his head for a moment, always forget what should come first, and get carried away in the slip of priorities his agency. We hate to say this, but we think we have to, as we owe this to our Guyanese brothers and sisters: From the point of view of the GOGEC chief, Exxon excess, Exxon continuity, and Exxon peace, no matter what he does it out there, you have to be ignored, even excused. Even when it has been recklessly negligent, definitely indifferent, and terribly unresponsive, the company must have its way to do as it pleases. It must not anger, or harass, or interfere. We disagree. We are like Dr. Adams shut down Guyana from Exxon operations until it repaired its faulty gas compressor. He has had enough experience, plenty of misstatements. Time for us to become real, by drawing hard lines, which cannot be moved with Exxon and others.