Dear Editor,
Reference is made to GHK Lall’s column published in the March 4, 2024, edition of the Kaieteur News with the caption: “Bursting the Bharrat Jagdeo bubble”. The author, GHK Lall, hardly, if at all, writes anything worthy of response in terms of engaging him in any meaningful public debate, discussion, and analysis. But on this occasion, I would like to, for the readers’ benefit, make an exception to illustrate the degree of venomous verbosity spewed on a daily basis by this particular author.
The author provided absolutely no meaningful, rigorous, and in-depth contribution to his own subject, if it is that the author intended to offer a constructive criticism or critical evaluation of the Vice President’s performance. The article was fraught with 99% venomous verbiage. This does not constitute serious analytical reasoning and evaluation of public policy and issues of national importance; matters of such, that the author asserts himself as the subject matters’ authority. That, notwithstanding, the author’s exposition of his prolific skills in the deployment of linguistics, that characterize his writing style, is perhaps more suitable for fictional novels, rather than issues of national importance, development, public policy, and debates.
He then attempted to raise the question of oil spill; a belabored topical issue. The argument on the liability coverage thereof is an infinite argument. What is of importance, however, is that the operator in the Stabroek block along with its co-venture partners are all fully liable in any such event of a spill. Ultimately, these matters are always the subject of litigation, and international laws often times are invoked. This was the case in almost all of the major oil spills catastrophes that occurred in the past in different parts of the world.
The local laws, namely the Environmental Protection Act and the Petroleum Activities Act (2023), contain several provisions therein, mandating that the oil companies shall keep the State indemnified at all times against all liabilities that may be brought against the State, by reason of action, or the manifestation of any adverse event arising out of their operations.
Furthermore, on the question of whether the oil companies have sufficient financial resources to cover a spill, this is where the Vice President, on several occasions demonstrated the local subsidiaries’ financial position, which is growing year-over-year (y-o-y) in terms of size in total assets, revenue and profit, y-o-y, coupled with the parent companies’.
In that regard, one of the parent companies alone, namely ExxonMobil, closed FY 2023 with a total asset of US$372 billion, which is nearly 19x the size of Guyana’s GDP. There are several elements of assurance required as per the local laws such as the insurance coverage (US$600m) and the parent company guarantee (US$2b). Of note, as the oil companies expand their operations over the medium and long term, these coverages will be revised upwards to reflect the increased level of risks based on the size of the operations.
Unfortunately, the aforesaid elements are often times ignored by the media and commentators such as the likes of GHK and Glenn Lall et.al, in the interest of propagating their own rhetoric consistent with their overt or covert agenda.
In conclusion, 99% of the article was a myriad of baloney, which is the case, unarguably for all of his articles and columns; nothing whatsoever of substance to systematically deconstruct even within a minimum threshold.
Yours respectfully,
Joel Bhagwandin
