All Guyanese should Hail Excellency Irfaan Ali! I do. Despite his great contradictions; despite my own differences with what he stands for, how he dodges ugly reality of so much that’s wrong in this Republic. On Guyana’s 56th Republic Day, “President says Republic thriving, democracy vibrant” (SN, Feb 24,2026). In seeking a kind and gentle way to help Pres. Ali, segueing into Scripture serves best; fitting since it’s Lent. Grant the indulgence, please.
The chief priest, scribes and elders, those ever-present Establishmentarians, could quote the law chapter and verse; zealously broadcast their knowledge and piety. Right words, phrases, said at the right moments. Condemning others as lacking, demand that they obey diligently. Who can argue with such brilliance, such steadfast devotion to selling the right stuff? I am weak, poor in that arena. It is now time to part the veil. They knew all about the law; every facet, nuance, every requirement. But they didn’t know how to live. They didn’t have the authenticity of charity (love) and respect for the people. Whitewashed sepulchers, they were called. Beautiful and reassuring on the outside, but decayed and, oh, the worms on the inside.
The Republic is thriving, said the president, or similar such words. Great to hear, Excellency. It is thriving so much, flying so high, that a little, negligible, moment such as acknowledging the presence of the Hon. Opposition Leader was seemingly beyond Excellency Ali’s skills, below his dignity. What could be more credible about how much this Republic is thriving than the national leader, on a momentous national occasion, finding a word, the sparest word, of recognition for the Opposition Leader? What could be so terrible to this vibrant democracy of Guyana, to go beyond the grand words, with that simple human gesture?
Words are cheap, and the more they flow with foundation lacking, with corroboration not forthcoming, those are the cheapest. So cheap as to be contemptible. Who am I tell a president that his clothing has holes? Holes so large and so many that they make one wonder if he has on any clothes at all. The little people, those that everyone wants to hush up, for speaking out of turn, for pointing out the obvious, do possess their own wisdom, and that unrestrained enthusiasm that characterizes the independent and the reflexively bold. This democracy is so vibrant that one its pillars, the Fourth Estate, totters like the leaning Tower of Pisa. Maybe, it is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, all terrace and lattice work, the intricate embroidery of words so hollow, that they make the worst hypocrites of those who own them, utter them. I point to the pending departure of Stabroek News, and one of the reasons behind its going [ad revenues staggered punishingly, deliberately, as a matter of official policy]. I call for a big round of applause for government and president on a hatchet job well-premeditated, well-planned, and well-executed. If I am the only one to do so, then that’s fine, too.
Excellency Ali was in fine form: ‘the Republic is thriving.’ I make a Mashramani gift to him of SN’s revealing cost of living series; all 169 pamphlets of it. They reveal-indeed, confront and contradict-just how much this Republic under Pres. Ali’s PPP Govt is thriving. For sure, the Republic is thriving, but who are the ones that can claim to be doing so. The president can ignore the Leader of the Opposition. I do not think that he does as well ignoring those not thriving in this rich oil-laden Republic. I read of a magistrate and her family being reviled; a Guyana Police Force that had a Botox injection leading to a radical peeling of its skin; and those disagreeing with the PPP Govt demonized and criminalized. And, I must agree with Pres. Ali that Guyana’s democracy is vibrant. Vibrant with vileness and viciousness; vibrant with premediated monstrosities and the products of many a malice on taxpayers’ dollars. Vibrant with the extinguishing of the leading media light in Guyana. Vibrant in that hallmark of democracy -mounds of secrets. Vibrant with major institutional arms of the State reengineered and repeopled, so condoning and coverup become the norms of Guyanese life.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Arise, Excellency Ali, Guyana’s guardian of democracy with a difference. Democracy with a faint pulse, gasping for breath, dying in sections daily.
