I have always held the view that Pres. Ali had lots of room in him to improve. He proved me right. The only complaint is that his improvements come in agonizingly slow droplets, dribbles. They are too far apart, too slender to last too long. But there was the First Citizen of Guyana in the same room with the King of England (and what is left of the dominions), Charles III. For once, Pres. Ali manifested the good sense, the restraint, to keep his hands to himself.
There he was in the company of the English king who has his own family troubles to consider, but who still found the time to deal with the oilman from Guyana, President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali. In the event that some PPP slickster puts out that the meeting was due to the president’s peerless leadership abilities, or his irresistibly charming attributes, I clear the air. It is the oil, stupid. British companies interested, lining up. And there was the president ensuring that his hands were neatly clasped in the proper formation in front of him, with proper distance kept. No grabbing of the elbow in a bear hug with one hand, and vising the other via a strenuous handshake. He knocked out any mischief makers and their malicious AI generated images. No grabbing by the elbow, getting in the King’s face, intruding in personal space. The King’s men, either private secretary, or the Lord Chamberlain, must have gone to the pains of giving Pres. Ali a much-needed tutorial in royal protocol. What may be ignored by Barbadian Prime Minister, Mia Mottley (and others) just will not do when in the presence of monarchy, no matter how footworn and shabby it is these days. See, the president is learning. Curbing presidential enthusiasms, yielding to protocols’ reserve. There are none better than the British when proper reserve must be practiced to the letter, more particular, all the way down to the inches permissible for a bow, and when to curtsy. Where there is learning, there is opportunity for growing. Though I don’t want to know, I would hope that Guyana’s Pres. Ali did not do a Clive Lloyd and kneeled before old colonizer people, who did what they did to his own people. What was surprising was that Pres. Ali did not continue his parade of specially designed menswear and dressed in tartan or the kilts that bagpipers don. He did set the precedent in the Middle East, didn’t he, with flowing robes and colorful keffiyeh. So, I think that it would have been proper to put on a display of stripes and plaids for the King of England and what is left of Britannica.
Notwithstanding the public peace, I do think that King Charles III harbored a spot of bother, when His Majesty’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Excellency Jane Miller, was torpedoed by Guyana’s House Speaker. For his plenipotentiary to be keelhauled, and look by whom, had to have rankled the royal head. Though the Speaker did the heavy lifting, Pres. Ali has to take responsibility, as PPP headman when family members go ballistic. Poor taste, ghastly, bad form and all that baloney. I would be surprised if a frosty frown was not visible on the otherwise sunny face of the English king who has had some bad days recently. Family can be a nasty proposition, responsibility.
Pres. Ali will be forced on the backfoot soon enough, left with no choice. The Yanks are working up a full head of steam against the British and their dogged stance, close cousins and sacred bonds and all. The bone of contention is American ambitions on Greenland. Not the green land of Guyana (that’s over, old history), it is the Greenland by the Artic canopy. Which way will Guyana be, other than for democracy and the binding power of that spirit creature called international law? Who else can it be for, other than the good ole US of A? What! And upset America and give Delcy Rodrigues and her generals ideas about the possibilities in abandoned and vulnerable Guyana. Those budget allocations for 2026 still have to be released to and celebrated by impatient and deliriously excited PPP insiders. It would be a shame to let a penny go abegging after all the tireless labors and endless craftsmanship of Dr. Ashni. Pres. Ali is getting better by the day on some of the finer things in leadership. Unfortunately, it is only some.
