Silence is Barren

Silence is Barren

OPINION BY: GHK LALL —August 2026

It is said that silence is golden.  Considering where the PPP Govt has taken silence relative to the new profit sharing, I would say that silence isn’t golden.  Silence is barren.  Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, a man of triathlon political stamina, is suddenly out of breath.  Ever had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Jagdeo the marathon talker on the go?  Apparently, he has hit a bump on the road and gone down into some ditch.  When the Guyanese people need to hear from their chief oil and gas policymaker, they are left sucking sand, spitting bricks. 

Forget about silence is golden.  For reasons unknown, silence is now manifesting some sinister complexions.

Look I’m one of those dumb country boys who don’t know jack from jill.  But I know silence when I’m near it.  Did some musclebound heavyweight from Exxon put Dr. Jagdeo in a headlock, cutoff his oxygen?  So completely that not even a gurgle escapes past his larynx?  This is ruff stuff.  But what could be sweeter than Guyanese now all lined up and 50:50 profit sharing a reality!  Not to come, but already part of the net revenue calculus.  Not with hands outstretched, but with the biggest bucket that could be found to collect the billions earned and due to this country from its oil.  Guyana’s oil mandarin can’t go on leave now.  Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, has left his phone or Laptop at home, but he is not the one.  Bharrat Jagdeo is the only one.

Silence has its uses.  Can be a sign of refinement, a measure of comportment.  Depending on the occasion.  And the company. 

Silence in what should be a time of celebration amounts to what is a sacrilege.  Pardon me, but what else? 

Dr. Jagdeo has been Guyana’s strongman for ages.  He has slammed people around, turned them upside down.  He cannot go from strongman to missing man.  Or tin man.  His is not the option to go from missing leader to tongue-tied speaker.  Surely, that qualifies as a contradiction in terms: a tongue-tied speaker.  I think that silence is slackness.  Within the framework of the new profit-sharing setup between Exxon and Guyana, silence is tantamount to dereliction of duty.

I simplify with an example.  Imagine the oil consortium operating offshore discovers five billion barrels of new oil.  But says absolutely nothing.  No information.  No communication.  Not a conversation.  What’s up with that picture?  It’s where Guyanese are in terms of their Exxon mortgage paid off.  When there should be singing in the streets, with Dr. Jagdeo in the lead, there is silence.  When there should be shouting from the rooftops, and Jagdeo at his loudest, there is silence. 

Grim, awful, deathly silence, as though Guyana is in the middle of a nuclear winter.

Frankly, I am disappointed in the Vice President.  He could have stood from the balcony of his offices, or the roof gardens of Freedom House, and give Guyanese the V (for victory) sign.  He must be under a tremendous amount of pressure that even sticking two fingers in the air is a torture.  Guyana’s Number One Oilman never struck me as one of those strong, silent types.  More of an excitable, raucous, presence when the spirit took over him, for sure. 

For a long time, it was the time of his favorite spirits.  Now the spirits have deserted him, and he’s a shadow of something.  Don’t ask me what, as I am still working my way through that molasses swamp. 

Unfathomable it may be to some.  But the gods of silence have taken over this country.  I don’t think it’s for the better.  Mark my words, folks.

Whatever the concoction, whatever the form of the contraption, there will have to be a conversation.  Meanwhile, it is blissful silence.  Something tells me that a pot full of liquid is heading Guyanese way. 

The first sprinklings came when Guyana’s President of Oil, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo went into silent mode.  Rain in the forecast for Guyana’s 50:50 profit parade.