A US visa saved Guyana’s democracy

Three years ago, de Coal-a Shun government did skedaddling over the elections. Dem bin playing all kinds of games to not come out of power and to try to steal an election dat demlose.

Dem thought dem would have ride out de storm.

But a man named Pompeo decide fuh fire a warningshotoverdembow Andwhenhedid,ifyuhsee how dem duck fuh cover All de man do was to announce visa restrictions pon anyone who sought to frustratededemocraticwill ofdepeople.

It was as if the heavens had parted, and the Coal-aShun suddenly found its senses, albeit driven by the fear of visa restrictions. W i t h a s i n g l e announcement from Pompeo, dem wah bin trying fuh hijack de elections were jolted back to reality from their alternative universe. The terrifying announcements of those visa restrictions struck like lightning, scatteringplanslikeaflock ofpanickedparrots.

Suddenlypersonsbegan tofindtheirmoralcompass and claim how de government should do the right thing. Dem overseas folkswahbinbeenpushing false narratives, hastily called their relatives back home, issuing strict instructionstoabandonany mention of deceased and migrant persons casting votes. Dem tell dem family to not put any such information pon Facebook becausedeminAmericatoo couldgetdeport.

Whattheworldfailedto achieve, the US visa threat solved Guyana’s democracy was saved not by international pressure but by the fear of visa revocation.Butnowpeople settlebackindemoldways and claiming how Guyana gat an ‘installed’ government Dem boys hopethatsomeofdemwah pushing dis narrative read how de visa of a former President of Panama get pullyesterday.

TalkHalf!LeffHalf!

ExxonMobil paid almost half of what...

Frompage2 increaseof18percent.Wood MacKenzie anticipates before the end of the year, rates of US$500,000/day or abovemayreturnforhighlyprized, advantaged ultradeepwater rigs Benign ultra-deepwater rigs have averaged US$420,000/day inthefirsthalfof2023,with utilizationat90percent.

ExxonMobil just last week received a green light from the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) to commence another 35-well drilling campaign in the StabroekBlock.

This means that the rental fees will significantly increase as the new drilling programme is scheduled to commence in the third quarter of this year and conclude by the fourth quarterof2028.

It must be noted that the

Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) Guyana inked with ExxonMobil and its partners allow the not machines. They have to rest and their boat engines will have to be serviced. There are also not enough boatoperatorstoallowfora 24-hour shift Even increasing the number of landings for river crossing will not help because the numberofvesselsplyingthe river cannot increase sufficient enough to take off the traffic That is why numbers planning is so important; it would have revealedthattheplansbeing put forward by the governmentandtheHarbour Bridgewillnotwork.Chaos willresult.

What is needed is for a reduction in the numbers of persons crossing the river during the closure of the bridge.Buttensofthousands havetogettowork.Butwhat ifthosetensofthousandsdid not have to get to and from work? T h i s i s w h e r e government intervention is needed The government employs thousands of workers who reside in West

Demerara Even the PresidenthasahomeinWest

C o a s t D e m e r a r a Government can provide its workers who live on West Demerara with paid special leavesothattheydonothave to come to work for those three days Schools are closed so this will help becauselesschildrenwillbe usingtherivercrossing. Theprivatesectorshould be encouraged to chip in. Unless the private sector is providing an emergency service,theytooshouldgive their workers residents in WestDemerarathreedaysof special leave The government cannot manage the increased river crossing traffic that will result from theclosureofthebridge.The only thing they can do is to reduce the need for persons to travel and the best way to dothisistograntafour-day work holiday for workers from West Demerara. But since these suggestions are emanating from outside of government, they are not likely to be adopted. The alternativehoweveris4days ofbedlam. consortium to recover 75 percent of the revenue each monthtowardscostrecovery while the remaining 25 percent is then shared equally between the two sidesasprofit.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this n e w s p a p e r a n d i t s affiliates.)

In the absence of a ringfencing provision, the oil giant has commenced recovering costs from projects that are yet to commence oil production, thereby shortening the profitsinagivenmonthtobe dividedwithgovernment.

Hardtruths

BYGHKLALL