Dear Editor,
As we approach the one-year milepost of President Mohamed Irfan Ali in office, I cut through the political propaganda and PR fluff, and measure the man and leader using six yardsticks. They are randomly: unity, transparency, accountability, economy, COVID-19 credibility, and floodwater gravity. My kindest comments follows:
Flooding saw the president getting his feet wet through hands-on involvement. I laud the leader, but he must know when to retreat, and make his mind work. With a national disaster behind, his mind had to be already ranging fluidly on preparing for the next one, however manifested. This has meaning for Guyana, because massive flooding is not a Black Swan (one-off) event. I give the president a generous ‘B.’I caution that he must know when to delegate, move on: he may self-assess as high-minded miracle worker, but must know he is foremost a nation director, with other grave demands.
Grave demands brings us to the pandemic, which sent too many Guyanese to their final resting place. I thought the president did spiritedly earlier on, but now I wonder how much of this virus is publicized. It was feared that elders were high-risk, with infections and deaths loosely corroborating. But now younger are among the stricken. I give credit to president and the Health Minister for bringing some coherence to virus handling (vaccines, mobilization, direction), and wish I could say more. I can’t. Concerns are: curfew obstinacy, endangering majority to favour minority (private sector), and schools. On children, the education minister was open (reopening), the health minister was obscure (statistics). We must move to another level, especially when America categorizes Guyana warningly re COVID-19. The president takes the hit: a ‘C-minus’, which is stretched to favour.
Third, the president promised unity. He is a practiced script reader, poor deliverer. For this most vital societal need, he sends the well-named Mark Philips; a good soldier, but not a Mark Antony, because Guyanese are not Romans – no lending him their ears. He has many countrymen, but few friends. And though he speaks with stereo sound volume (Philips), none listen. President and Prime Minister will appreciate the failure of Social Cohesion man, Dr. George Norton, who healed no one. Being the leader that he has turned out to be, the head shrugs. His mantra is sing the song, do the dance, and on to the next photo op. The road is long, the load heavy; the president stumbled and faltered early, an absolute nonstarter of a leader on unity. He flatters to deceive. For unity, the president gets an ‘A’, meaning, absent. Or anemic.
Fourth, there is the economy. All Guyanese should relate to how I present. The president has never seen a loan he doesn’t like. Zero percent down, zero APR, and nothing upfront unleashes frenzies in him, always remembering that others will repay. He mutates into George W. Bush: bring it on down. Or is it Sam Cook: bring it on home to me? With so many billions borrowed and to be borrowed, comrades will be in corruption heaven. Correction, they already are. Of course, Central Bank wizards will present statistics that sing growth and prosperity, which leave poor Guyanese wondering how they missed the gravy train. On the economy, His Excellency receives a ‘C-minus’ as in counterfeit. It fits.
Regarding the highly hailed commitment to transparency, the president thinks citizens are dummies. Tell the nation about oil and the leadership relationship with Exxon, skipper. Cotton Tree. The police. And cover-ups and containments via the EPA, PRO departments, and cabals of conspirators. I should say the president is a first class falsifier. All I say is that he fooled us with promises of transparency. He earns an ‘F’ on that, which means more than fail in this instance; relates to people making misrepresentations. Think law.
Last, the president gleamed on accountability during inauguration moments. It was his last twilight. Clearly, Guyana’s head lives on a different planet. For instead of accountability, it has been a year of the murky, an annum of inaccuracy, a time of non-answerability through sheltering under confidentiality and secrecy. The list is revealing COVID-19 cash, loan details, gold smuggling, money laundering, corrupt comrades recalled, court cancelled for other comrades. For accountability, I give the president, not a letter, but number. It is zero. Overall, the junior leader earns an A for PR, and D minus for deliverables. He has been a national embarrassment. It has been that kind of year, the best year of our lives. A real Sopranos’ state is Guyana.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
