De Boys at de rumshop.
It is Tuesday. It is 4:17 PM. De ice in de cooler is doin’ its job. Mr. Lakhraj is behind de counter, not gettin’ involved, but also not missin’ a single word.
De Boys is Compton, Hassan, Wendell, and Junior. Dey have been havin’ dis exact conversation for four hours. Or four years. It depends how you count.
I am sittin’ in de corner. I am not drinkin’. I am writin’. Dey know I am writin’. Dey have opinions about what I should write.
ON DE US$525 MILLION TAX WAIVER
Compton: “Five hundred and twenty-five million United States dollars. WAIVED. FOR ONE YEAR.”
Hassan: “Bredren, you read de paper today?”
Compton: “Hassan, of course I read de paper. Why you think I sayin’ it?”
Hassan: “I just askin’.”
Wendell: “But hold on, hold on. We waive de tax — what we gettin’ in exchange? Like, what is de barter? Because in my mind, when I waive somethin’, I gettin’ somethin’ back.”
Junior: (quietly, sippin’) “We gettin’ de oil.”
Wendell: “Junior. Junior. We already gettin’ de oil. De oil is comin’ out de ground in Stabroek Block. Whether we waive de tax or NOT, de oil is comin’. So what we waivin’ de tax FOR.”
Junior: “Investment confidence.”
Wendell: “Junior, please.”
Compton: “Junior, you been listenin’ to too much Ministry press release.”
Hassan: “De boy got de PowerPoint memorized.”
ON DE GAS-TO-ENERGY CONTRACTOR
Compton: “But wait. Tell me somethin’. Tell me, Hassan, you read about de Gas-to-Energy contractor? De FBI raids? De severed banking ties? De shell companies?”
Hassan: “Bredren. I read it. I read it twice. I had to read it twice because de first time I didn’t believe it was de same contractor we hire.”
Wendell: “We didn’t hire dem. Dey came to us. With a proposal. And we said yes.”
Junior: “Dey was de lowest bidder.”
Wendell: “JUNIOR. De lowest bidder is not always de best bidder. De lowest bidder is sometimes de bidder who got NOTHIN’ TO LOSE because dey already lost it twice.”
Compton: “And we paid dem US$80 million in arbitration!”
Hassan: “After we lost de arbitration.”
Compton: “After we lost de arbitration. Imagine. We pickin’ a fight with de FBI-raided shell-company contractor and we lose. And then we pay dem.”
Junior: “It was a settled commercial matter.”
Wendell: “Junior, drink your beer.”
ON DE 87.5% GRAB
Hassan: “Glenn Lall sayin’ Exxon takin’ 87.5%. De government sayin’ is not 87.5%. De Ministry sayin’ de math is more nuanced.”
Compton: “But here is what I want to know. Forget de exact number. Forget if is 87.5 or 85 or 75. I just want to know — who can tell me, in a sentence, what we gettin’? Just one sentence. No spreadsheet. No press release. No Ministerial ‘on this side, on that side’ speech. Just one sentence: what is Guyana’s share?”
Hassan: “Bredren. Six years. Nobody can give you dat sentence.”
Compton: “Six years, Hassan. SIX YEARS.”
Wendell: “And we gone keep waitin’.”
Junior: “De information is publicly available.”
Wendell: “Junior. WHERE. Where is it publicly available. Tell me. I will go and read it. Tell me which website. Tell me which Ministry document. Tell me which line item in de budget.”
Junior: (silent)
Wendell: “Exactly. Drink your beer.”
ON DE WALES PROJECT, GENERALLY
Compton: “But on a separate matter, look at de Wales gas project. Five years. We been hearin’ bout dis project for five years. Where de pipe at?”
Hassan: “De pipe is comin’.”
Compton: “Hassan, de pipe been comin’ for five years. De pipe is now its own theology. De pipe is somethin’ you have faith in. You don’t see de pipe. You believe in de pipe.”
Wendell: “I drive past Wales last week. I saw a fence. I saw a sign. I did not see a pipe.”
Junior: “De project is in de constructio—”
Wendell: “Junior. JUNIOR. Drink your beer. Now.”
ON BIGGER MATTERS
Hassan: “But seriously. Take a step back. We talkin’ about de tax waivers, de contractor history, de Exxon share. De same conversation we havin’ for years. And every year somebody come on de news and say ‘we hearin’ you, we workin’ on it, give us time.’ But de tax waivers keep happenin’. De contracts don’t get renegotiated. De information don’t get released. We all know what’s happenin’. Why we still pretendin’ we don’t?”
(Long pause. De ice in de cooler shift. Mr. Lakhraj wipe down de counter. De ceilin’ fan groan.)
Compton: “Bredren. Dat is de question.”
Wendell: “Dat is always de question.”
Junior: (very quietly) “…maybe Junior should drink less beer.”
Compton: “Junior. NOW you sayin’ somethin’ true.”
ON DE WAY OUT
I stood up. I closed my notebook. Mr. Lakhraj nodded at me. He did not say anything. He has been in de business of not sayin’ anything since 1994. It is why de rumshop is still standin’.
De Boys is still talkin’. Dey will be talkin’ tomorrow. Dey will be talkin’ next week. De conversation does not end. De conversation just continue.
Same drum. Different beat. De Boys seh.
De Boys Seh writes from inside Mr. Lakhraj’s rumshop, where de discussion is constant, de verdict is delivered, and de answers, eventually, get said. Caribbean + Africa, for de diaspora. De Boys are composite characters representing de regulars. Mr. Lakhraj is fictional. De rumshop is universal.
Sources: Kaieteur News (April 28, 2026 — “Guyana waived US$525M in taxes for Exxon in 2025”); Kaieteur News (April 27, 2026 — “Gas-to-Energy contractor history riddled with FBI raids, severed banking ties and shell companies”; “Glenn Lall sounds alarm on Exxon’s ‘87.5% grab’”); Kaieteur News (April 3, 2026 — “Guyana secretly paid US$80M to Wales gas plant contractor after losing arbitration”).