SOME ‘Krauss’ had the audacity to insinuate that Guyana is an inept country characterised by stunted development with people who live seemingly primitive lifestyles, and I’m never going to be okay with that.

Clifford Krauss is an international energy business correspondent for the New York Times and because of the massive oil finds offshore Guyana by oil giant Exxon Mobil, Mr. Krauss decided to visit the Land of Many Waters- or as he calls it, the “vast watery wilderness with only three paved highways”.

The correspondent touched base with many of the key persons in Guyana’s emerging oil and gas sector and the result was his exposition: “The $20 Billion Question for Guyana.” To cut a long story short, he basically presented Guyana as a country ill-prepared to be the next great global oil producer but yet desperately in need of the oil revenues to foster development.

I will, however, concede that his analysis on the developing oil and gas industry was quite comprehensive and highlighted several evident deficiencies en route to preparing Guyana for its unavoidable transformation.The Ministry of Finance released a statement deeming the article erroneous, effectively debunking some of the points made, but what irks me is Krauss’ presentation of Guyana as a widely underdeveloped nation.

He cherry-picked information to promote his poor Cinderella narrative. I won’t doubt that there are rural communities where children go to school in dugout canoes- I visited a few of these areas and I didn’t see it for myself, but even I won’t rule out the possibility. Krauss, however, makes it seem as though every child and their second cousin use canoes.

And then, he mentions the brain drain phenomenon-fair enough, it happens but also says: “…while those who stay behind experience high rates of H.I.V. infection, crime and suicide.”

Fine, I’ll accept that crime is a concern (as it is in most, if not all, places) and our suicide rates are high (but also decreasing), but his mention of our susceptibility to HIV baffles me. A blog about the love story between Exxon and Guyana addresses this better than me by saying: “My top priority when I leave the house every day for work is dodging H.I.V. infection. You just never know where it may leap out at you, you know? After all, we have a prevalence of HIV of just over one per cent.”

You see, this is why education is crucial. Without education- or at least some basic awareness- we’ll have more Krausses coming here and exaggerating all our shortcomings and we’ll take it as the gospel truth. Why? Because you don’t know any better.

At the recently concluded National Toshaos Council, the indigenous leaders called for there to be more inclusion in the talks on oil and gas. I couldn’t agree more; the road to first oil must be paved with the inclusion of all Guyanese. The xenophobia and hesitancy will prevail lest there is education.

All in all, what Krauss has shown us is that little ol’ Guyana, forgotten by most of the folks in Uncle Sam’s country- save for the few still reeling from the horrific Jonestown events- will be receiving the most attention and more importantly, skepticism. This could be a great blessing because it could force accountability. At the same time, however, this could also mean that Guyana can be used and abused once more by the imperialists and their ‘expertise’. And history speaks for itself in this regard.

But maybe, more importantly, Krauss challenges Guyana to get oil right. The underlying tone of his entire story was that Guyana is another developing country that is hastily grasping at the lump sum of cash that will be available. It is the ‘rags to riches’ classic of Prince Charming (Exxon) saving Cinderella (Guyana) from her poor life.

GHK Lall, in a letter published in the Stabroek News, contended that Krauss is being tried for pointing out obvious truths, and as xenophobic as it sounds, we don’t ever want foreigners to expose our deficiencies. And because Krauss is correct in some (or even many) aspects, this is why we have got to get oil right. The future of Guyana is undoubtedly bright, but we must start the refining now.

I believe we’ll try our best to get this right, I know better must come. I mean, do we really want more Krausses?