That the US Embassy’s Political and Economic Affairs Chief, Russell Zalizniak paid a ‘Courtesy Call to Leader of the Opposition on August 26th 2024 is no small news.
Zalizniak is a seasoned diplomat with a thick resume of deployments on behalf of US government to further its stated agenda of “promoting stability and economic prosperity”.
‘Stability’ is now under consideration by the International Court of Justice, with discussion date of cases scheduled to be submitted by both Guyana and Venezuela on December 9th 2024.
That leaves ‘Economic Prosperity’ open for current conversation…which, almost totally, means oil.
A quick overview would remind us that Exxon Mobil has pledged Corporate Social Responsibility– its ethical commitment to the country during its extractive endeavors. Mandatory protective measures to guard against damage to the environment, contract transparency and responsible fiscal management are part of this pledge – all of which is considered in tandem with its Return on Investment.
The series of legal actions Guyana has taken against Exxon occurred because Exxon failed its pledge – a common practice for this institution which boasts an economy that’s larger than many country’s. And its violations are so frequent that it has its own self-policing unit…if you’re not a skeptic of the practice.
Charges range from misstated value of equipment, through lax environmental protection by under-insurance; all of which show Exxon Mobil, the sophisticated investor in the deal, as being more predatory than socially responsible.
And since Exxon has invested some 55 billion in Guyana’s offshore oil development and accounts for significant input to America’s Gross Domestic Product but has had some litigation set backs involving contractual agreements, this may be the time to discuss Economic Prosperity.
But for whom?
This is why timely and official information is critical to keeping citizens abreast of official acts and goings on.
The 2023 visit by the US Ways and Means Congressional Delegation was expressly to benefit the mission of America’s Chamber of Commerce and the purpose of its business tentacles in as many countries as it can embrace…primarily to shut out competitors, not the least of which is China.
Elected polititicains should have advised their electorate why the Congressional Delegation was coming and being hosted by the US American Chamber of Commerce- Guyana as confirmed by the US Embassy.
The absence of official information creates space for scandal…like the ruling arm of the Guyana Government refusing to meet with US Officials who were ‘summoned’, pursuant to complaints of discrimination.
This, too, could have been resolved by simply sharing the read out from Congressman Jeffries…rather than have the space infected by self-serving rabble rousing. And, the unwitting acceptance of misinformation by the population which is most targeted by those who dis-inform for personal gain, is what completes this vicious political cycle.
It’s the literary equivalent to political turpitude…the hijacking of space by media predators.
Congressman Jonathan L. Jackson’s visit to Guyana in May 2024, was even more peculiar. We can surmise the level of diplomatic importance it had, judging from the fact that he met with the Charge d’Affaires, Adrienne Galanek and not the US Ambassador, Nicole Theriot. His Courtesy Call to the House Speaker seemed equally as ‘relevant’, given the airy description of their meeting.
And we note that all of this lines up with the fact that the US Congressman has a portfolio that is unspecific to visiting Guyana; let alone fielding the complaints of residents, displaced by the ruling arm of government, razing their homes.
It was, in our view, another misleading session, a creation of false hope for the demographic that is most trampled upon by bad governance. It was another deflating exercise for citizens already under-served by elected officials at the governing and partisan levels.
What they got was an answer framed in protocol- that the US Congressman was going to “talk” with Guyana’s President, with his US colleagues and would encourage the colleagues to visit Guyana. The fed idea that members of foreign governments could heal political dysfunction at the local level is the kind of absurd non logic that political charlatans unleash on the vulnerable that depend on them for the leadership they were elected to.
The governing composition of the Ruling and Opposing arms of Government are diligently working to maintain an efficient adversarial relationship. The purpose of politics has become that of serving a Political Party, seemingly, which narrows the national application for which it was intended.
Sadly, that robs Party members of an understanding of how Parties work for the overall good of the nation.
That’s why they feel that the presence of a US Congressmen could solve their ejection from their homesteads and that visiting contingents of foreigners can correct the political wrong doing of the ruling arm of government…which is not being opposed by the Opposition Leader, whose job it is to constructively oppose.
And no one asks because it’s business as usual. Elected politicians can be casual with lives and livelihoods because they’ve conditioned the political environment to see factions and not country.
Zalizniak’s courtesy call to Norton had to be secondary to his meeting with the leading arm of Government. But neither Ruling nor Opposition thought that their voters needed to know how this discussion on economic prosperity would directly impact every resident Guyanese; lifting those in chronic poverty to enjoy the benefits of their entitled patrimony.
Power without responsibility is the platform of governance in Guyana.
Whatever is Zalizniak’s job, it will follow all the quantifiable measures for US State Department outcomes.
How they comport with Guyana’s vision of Economic Prosperity, we’ll never know.
They don’t have to tell us…Ruling nor Opposition.
It’s one of the privileges of being in power…in a Government that doesn’t have to answer to its people.