IN November 2022, 42 members of the social gathering that I have given the title, The Usual Suspects (TUS), wrote President Ali a letter demanding the end to oil production.

They wrote: “We are deeply concerned that the Government’s policy to pursue economic development based on oil and gas is bad for Guyana. Oil and gas production are an existential threat to Guyana. We cannot support government’s policy to produce oil and gas when every ton of greenhouse gas pollution cause (sic) loss of life in African countries. In light of the above we call for a national moratorium on all petroleum operations in Guyana – offshore and onshore.”

Here is the list, and check where a majority of them live:

Vanda Radzik

Alissa Trotz

Vidyaratha Kissoon

Karen de Souza

Pauline Melville

Christine Samwaroo

Danuta Radzik

Maya Trotz

Susan Collymore

Joy Marcus

Halima Khan

Vanessa Ross

Wintress White

Gary Girdhari

Nicole Cole

Abbyssinian Carto

Nigel Westmaas

Joan McDonald

Duane de Freitas

Akola Thompson

Joan Cambridge

Immaculata Casimero

Alma O’Connell

Terry Roopnaraine

Colin Klautky

Earl John

Janette Bulkan

Sandy de Freitas

Sherlina Nageer

Jocelyn Dow

Elizabeth Deane-Hughes

Mosa Telford

Suraiya Ismail

Leila Jagdeo

Gerald Perreira

Romario Hastings

Paulette Allicock

Daniel Allicock

Isabelle de Caires

Luke Daniels

Red Thread

Amerindian Peoples Association

South Rupununi District Council

The Breadfruit Collective

Makushi Research Unit

Of those names listed above, here is the foreign status of those who signed the letter:        

1: Dr. Janet Bulkan serves the University of British Columbia.

2: Dr. Alissa Trotz serves the University of Toronto.

3: Dr. Nigel Westmass serves Hamilton College in New York.

4: Dr. Maya Trotz serves the University of South Florida.

5: Isabelle DeCaires lives in her homeland of the UK, where her son plays County Cricket for Middlesex.

6: Abyssinian Carto is of Rastafari orientation, and lives in New York.

7: Dr. Cary Gildarie lives in New York.

8: Terry Roopnaraine lives in his homeland, the UK.

9: Pauline Melville moved to the UK since the early 1950s.

10: Christina Samaroo moved to New York in 2008.

11: Luke Daniels lives in the UK.

In a column on these people on this page of Wednesday, April 24, 2024 titled, “Pauline Melville: Let them eat air or breadfruit,” I wrote the following words:

“I did not state the time these people left Guyana. In many cases, the time is between 15 and 45 years. Imagine you’ve been gone for 45 years, and you want to decide for us who live here? Isn’t this unmitigated hubris and hauteur? To say we must come off oil production is a colossal act of reckless assault on Guyana’s future. Maybe if we come out of oil and our income is decimated, the Breadfruit Initiative will feed us breadfruit. I will starve, because since from growing up in Wortmanville, I never liked breadfruit.”

Now this same mindset is up to it again. Guyana has uranium, and a company is here to invest in uranium extraction. TUS does not want uranium investment, because they say it harms the environment. It is the identical argument to the one they sent the President in November 2020.

Here are the words of TUS: “We join with all who have spoken out against the dangers and environmental damage of uranium mining, which, if approved, will leave a legacy of destruction to the health and well-being of the Indigenous people who live in the Middle Mazaruni, to the flora and fauna which inhabit this area, to the land which provides livelihoods, and to the rivers and waterways, including the mighty Mazaruni, which provides life and sustenance to so many.”

It is the same story all over again by TUS: Guyana has a sacred duty to save the world’s environment. I am not a believer, but only God knows why TUS has bestowed on the Guyanese people the task of saving the world. This country that has been poor in the past is now seeing and getting some money so we could have a future. But a few foreign-based Guyanese arrogate to themselves the right to dictate our future for us.

Now here is the thing that will make you laugh. The TUS personalities and organisation that wrote the President in 2022 about stopping oil were 42. This time, only one name is printed (Danuta Radzik) with the no other signatures but the words “concerned Guyanese and environmental defenders.”

They are ashamed to use their names, because they know they live in other countries where the environment is being destroyed. And they cannot say or do a damn thing about it. Let Guyana develop its uranium industry as it did with its oil.    

 

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.