Dear Editor,
For some strange reason I started to think who will lead Guyana in this pivotal phase of its history after the results of the 2020 National and Regional Elections are finally declared. Who will be Guyana’s Executive President entrusted with the enormous powers of Office to lead the country amidst the great challenges it is facing? If the APNU+AFC Party wins, it will be current President David Granger. If the PPP/C wins it will be…I really cannot recall the name of the PPP/C Presidential Candidate. Can you?
Anxious about the country’s future, I was troubled by my lack of awareness. I knew it was not former President Bharrat Jagdeo who after serving more than two terms is legally debarred from any further Presidential term. Nor is it the talented, agentic and ever visible Anil Nandlall. So, I googled and found the name, oh yes, Irfaan Ali. I do not blame myself for forgetting the PPP/C Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali’s name because Bharrat Jagdeo who is the General Secretary of the PPP/C has been sucking up all the political oxygen in his party’s representations on the national stage; minimizing in the process any reference to Irfaan Ali whose name rarely appears in the news media, is seldom spoken of and does not really feature when crucial post-elections decisions and representations are being publicly expressed.
Is this the individual – veiled, silent, unacknowledged – who could be Guyana’s next President in these challenging and uncertain times? The obscuring of the PPP Presidential candidate at a time when he should be heard or at least heard from is undignified, if not also disrespectful to the nation. Should the Guyanese people home and abroad be bothered by the anonymity of this man who can possibly become our next President? Irfaan Ali reportedly said of his sponsor Bharrat Jagdeo in the Guyanese Online News “I see him as someone who has served tremendously well and someone who has a lot to offer and I don’t know what you meant by pulling strings.” Still the question remains Who is Irfaan Ali? What is his vision for the country? What type of leader is he? Why should he be trusted to become Guyana’s ultimate leader when the Party of which he is its Presidential candidate evidently does not trust nor allow him to be its leader and speak on its behalf? Will he be just a place holder for someone else who has not faced the electorate? Why should the Guyanese people trust the reticent one?
President Granger has acted with much dignity and sagacity as Guyana’s Executive President and leader of the multi-party and multi-racial APNU+AFC Coalition Government during this period of turbulence over the March 2nd National and Regional Elections. Despite the immense powers of the Presidency which he still holds, he has not sought to dictate to the Guyana Elections Commission how to carry out their Constitutional mandate. He has dutifully respected and adhered to the rulings of Guyana’s High Court and Appeal Court on the various Electoral challenges by the PPP/C whether these be unfavourable to his own Party’s causes or not. He engaged Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and formally negotiated a protocol for
CARICOM to oversee the recount of the ballots. (Was Irfaan Ali present at these pivotal negotiations?). Granger as President and leader of the APNU+AFC coalition has publicly and rightly declared that he would accept and respect the results of the elections. This leader has acted with the dignity the Office of the Presidency he holds requires, and the country he leads expects. He has also been demonstrating calm, measured, and effective leadership in managing the Coronavirus Pandemic and other challenges confronting the country.
Just as Granger has held together a coalition of parties with widely varying views, so too he has kept lines of communication open with the PPP/C and readily meets with them to resolve crises and in other ways advance the causes of Guyana. The CARICOM Agreement for the 2020 Elections recount was done expeditiously in collaboration with the PPP/C. Most importantly, President Granger has declared a commitment to inclusive governance regardless of the outcome of the elections. Guyana needs inclusive governance as it moves into the era of oil. What it does not need in these trying times is a leader without voice and agency.
Yours faithfully,
Professor Ken Danns
