Jul 05, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – No one could have done it as clinically and comprehensively as Chartered Accountant, Mr. Chris Ram. He took a scalpel to Exxon, the oil contract, and political leaders. Dissected all three with much blood drawn. The contract, the regulatory and political environments, and Guyana’s six years of oil revenues served as his operating table. In instances, it felt that he operated a guillotine and not a scalpel, such were the spurts of blood.

Working backwards, the numbers stagger the imagination. What should have been 1:1 became 6:1 in favour of the oil companies re revenue sharing. The money involved is not a million dollars, a tidy sum in itself, but trillions. The political leaders whose hands are tarnished from presiding over the agreements between Guyana and Exxon range from former Presidents Janet Jagan to Bharrat Jagdeo to David Granger to Irfaan Ali. President Jagan gave away too much land for little. Pres Ali gave away whatever leverage and liberty was left to Guyana -the sacredness of contracts. I recall Lucifer loved quoting scripture. In between, President Jagdeo found God (force majeure) and President Granger made himself into a god. He donated everything to Exxon for peanuts.