Ali’s Authoritarian Drift–President’s “misinformation” Attack on Free Speech is a Threat to Democracy

Georgetown, Guyana – May 15, 2025 – President Irfaan Ali has once again confirmed what Guyanese citizens have long suspected, that this government is not interested in accountability, transparency, or the truth, it is interested in control. Speaking at the 39th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police, Ali launched into yet another tirade against what he calls “misinformation,” a convenient label the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) increasingly uses to criminalize dissent and muzzle independent journalism.

What the President framed as a call for “a comprehensive communication strategy” to combat false narratives is, in reality, a veiled threat to free speech. Under the guise of “public safety,” President Ali and his government are pushing a dangerous agenda that aims to centralize information control, manipulate public perception, and clamp down on critics.

“The speed of that sharing, the factual basis of that sharing, is now a critical part of your work,” Ali said, urging police commissioners to help regulate public discourse. In normal democracies, law enforcement focuses on crime, not curating public opinion. But in the PPP’s Guyana, it seems police officers are being deputized not just to patrol the streets, but to patrol people’s thoughts, speech, and online posts.

Ali’s complaint that successful police operations “barely make the news” is particularly rich, considering that his government already controls a significant chunk of the media landscape, whether directly through state media or indirectly through co-opted so-called “independent” outlets. The PPP has long infiltrated the media establishment, exerts undue influence over private broadcasters, and benefits from near-monopolistic control of national radio and TV distribution. Yet it still cannot control the narrative. Why? Because the people of Guyana have stopped listening to them.

The problem is not misinformation. The problem is mistrust. The Guyanese people do not trust the PPP because the PPP has proven itself untrustworthy, corrupt, racially divisive, and disconnected from the struggles of the working class. And no amount of media control can erase that reality.

Ali’s latest remarks also reveal a deeper anxiety within the PPP hierarchy. As the next election looms, the party is terrified that ethnic cracks in their base are widening. They are desperate to keep their supporters in line, particularly among East Indian and Indigenous communities, who are now treated as if they are owned, not represented. The arrogance is astounding. The government’s particular posture with the Indigenous community suggests that they citizens have no agency, no critical thinking, and no right to political diversity. It’s not just insulting, it’s colonial in its mindset.

To be clear, freedom of expression is not a threat to democracy. It is its lifeblood. But to Ali, those who “spread misinformation” should “be held accountable”, a chilling statement when made by a head of state with legislative power, prosecutorial allies, and a compliant police force. Who decides what is misinformation? In today’s Guyana, it seems the answer is, whoever happens to be in government.

This is not governance. This is authoritarianism with a press pass. The people of Guyana deserve better than a president who fears criticism more than corruption. We deserve a government that protects speech, not prosecutes it; that earns trust, not demands it; and that represents all citizens, not just those who cheer from the sidelines.

If President Ali wants to restore public trust, let him start with honesty, not censorship. Let him open the books, not shut down dissent. Let him answer to the people, not surveil them.

Until then, his words about “building a safe and secure society” will ring hollow, because no society can be secure when its citizens are afraid to speak.