What Mr. Routledge didn,t say, what I say

Oct 12, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – Exxon’s Guyana head, Mr. Alistair Routledge, created a firestorm in Guyana with an unyielding expression of his company’s position. Though he said much, he was careful to steer clear of certain circumstances, disciplined to silence. What Mr. Routledge didn’t say, I say.

Exxon is here to make a profit. All else is charity. A bat, a hat, a sponsorship, a relationship, those are all charity. But with a difference. Exxon takes Guyana’s oil money and doles out tiny dollops of charity to passive, pauperised Guyanese. Profits and set asides for charity embody how free enterprise works. Not Samuelson nor Stiglitz, but real life, real people.