By GHK Lall- The question was from the Baker Institute, a think-tank located deep in the heart of Texas: Rice University. Recent events in Middle East and Russia is bringing windfall to your country. How do you manage the expectations of the population? How do you combine prudence with macroeconomic stability and the different dimensions?
A 34-word question led to a 1062-word answer from Guyana’s Pres. Ali. In sum, the president sold himself on quantity is preferable to quality. He started out jabbing at the downstream effects of a windfall: transportation, insurance, fertilizers, food prices, blah, blah, blah. But Pres Ali gave the widest berth to how he “manages the expectations of the population?” He even referenced AI and technologies advancing, but nothing about the expectations of Guyana’s population, and what he and his government are doing to manage those.
Isn’t it bandied about that this great Guyanese leader has a PhD? What is taught in those schools nowadays? Embroidery? My challenge is how to classify His Excellency: drifter or dodger. The special kind that gained honorable mention in English Literature.
Fellow Guyanese, think of this: after almost six years in charge of the PPP Govt machinery, surely Pres. Ali is capable of speaking intelligently and unambiguously about what’s been doing to “manage the expectations of the population?” One never knows, with shocks lurking.
The president droned on about “whether countries will try to build new systems to drones” and “who are the new strategic partners” and what we “will have to maneuver.” Duh? Huh? Ever seen a national leader try to maneuver around a question with led in his boots and mud in his eye?
Try Guyana’s Ali. What relevance are those to the “expectations of the population” and moving to manage them? Gloves off. I’m embarrassed. For Pres Ali: what he did to himself, how he did so. For Guyana and Guyanese who have been, once again, humiliated globally. The same cyberspace that Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo embraced, instigated the PPP faithful to maximize, has now turned out to be the greatest anti-PPP liability.
I was about to give up hope, when the president did give a small ray of hope. “So yes, additional revenue, windfall I would not go so far because you have to balance this off.” An expectant Guyanese population felt it was finally getting somewhere, and that Ali would deliver. Sorry, dead on arrival. Instead of speaking to the biggest, heaviest, and sharpest issue tormenting half of Guyana’s population, Ali threw them (and the Baker Institute) a googly, an underhand away swinger. When Excellency Ali should have taken aim at a crippling cost-of-living, he highlighted “how we deal with the cost bank.” Cost bank, Mr. President?
Cost bank, when Guyanese are falling like flies before cost-of-living assaults? I give up. Pres Irfaan Ali is a lost cause, a failed project, a man given to volume: “14 hotels” and “the speed of information flows” and “the long-term sustainability of the country.” Clearly, a man mesmerised by the power of buzzwords and canned phrases. He is featuring “long-term sustainability” and Guyanese grind through an anguished daily existence. Despite all the big headlines, big GDP, and big billions withdrawn from the Oil Fund, and from which no proper accounting has been given. Clear, credible accounting for oil money is part of Guyanese expectations. Comingling is the cleverness of PPP Govt corruption.
Pension increases have been so pitiful, they are like handing a man a hot towel when he needs a hot meal and a comfortable place to rest, without worrying about the landlord. But there was Dr. Ali boasting about those. Often, it’s better to keep mouth shut… Excellency Ali is now confirmed as his own worst enemy. A continuing embarrassment to this country. One 34-word question triggers a 1062-word response. The question remains unanswered. Guyanese continue to expect. It has been a pregnancy without delivery. Mother’s Day and countless Guyanese mothers starving, worrying, crying.
