Raphael Trotman has given his side of the story on the Exxon oil contract in a just-released book. Seems the reason he gave away the store – and all of us inside!! – was his fearing the “Hezekiah Effect” from the billions of barrels of oil he knew had been found? You don’t remember what’s the Hezekiah Effect, dear reader? Shame on you!! Weren’t you paying attention when the pastor was carrying on after you’d been dragged to church by your God-fearing mother? Or were you playing footsies with that girl on your left?? Either way, you should punish yourself with a “time out” for your transgression! Your (virtuous) Eyewitness will refresh your memory about Trotman’s rationale that he feels excuses the dirty he did!!
Hezekiah, you see, was an early King of Judah who scrupulously followed the Lord’s 10 Commandments. All of them!! What a guy!! He was so favoured that the grey-bearded fella in the sky once killed off 180,000 Assyrians who were his enemies!! And no! The commandment “thou shalt not kill” doesn’t apply to Him on high!! And it’s not genocide when He does the mass killing. Hezekiah even held off the dastardly Babylonians – who were the rising superpower of the day.
But one day Hezekiah fell ill – because he hadn’t gotten married!! – and accepted a get-well gift from the Babylonians. But in a fit of bonhomie, he “showed all of his treasures, all the silver and gold, and everything in his arsenal”!! That was it!! The prophet Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left”. And lo and behold, a century or so later, Judah was conquered and the people were taken into slavery into Babylon!!
All (you understand, don’t you, dear reader?) because Hezekiah showed off his wealth. And that’s what Trotman — a God-fearing man, according to his book — reprising the role of Hezekiah, was warning us against!! That rising Empire to the West, Venezuela, has long had its eyes on our territory of Essequibo, innit? So, he didn’t want to take too much from Exxon to tempt the Venezuelans more!! But we’d taken the Venezuelans to the World Court.
As a lawyer, he knew fighting battles in the World Court ain’t cheap. And that’s why he’d even hidden that $18M bonus – to pay those lawyers! So, while some are crowing they forced the prophet Trotman to reveal our wealth – don’t they care that in 100 years we’ll be dragged off to Caracas in Bolivarian captivity!!
By the Rivers of Orinoco we’ll weep for Guyana!!
…of lawlessness
Guyana gotta be the only country on planet Earth where this nonsense of breaking the laws is encouraged by a major political party. But maybe it’s because that party – the PNC – has given up on getting back into power, and so it’s a case of Burnham’s “back-to- back, belly-to-belly; Ah doan give a damn, Ah done dead a’ready!!” ?? Your Eyewitness, of course, is talking about the Opposition-encouraged stand-off between Government workers and vendors occupying the reserve at Plaisance Embankment Rd!!
So, we’re gonna have some new PNC Mayor – if the tussle between the Opposition Leader and his Executive is ever settled! – throwing himself under some truck?? Since there ain’t no mud for female vendors to throw themselves into!! But enough is enough…the Government owns these reserves, and can evict those who encroach at will – especially when it’s for the public good. Here it is the widening of the Embankment Highway!
Some will say there wasn’t enough notice. Fat lot of good THAT did at Mocha!!
…no mo
Did you know that Guyanese are the fifth largest ethnic group in New York City?? Well, if you didn’t know, then the fact that Diwali was just declared a school holiday there should send a signal.
