Georgetown, Guyana – As President Irfaan Ali delivered a long-awaited national address on Wednesday, the prevailing reaction from a rapidly shrinking live audience and citizens watching at home was not inspiration, but profound annoyance and deepening skepticism.
Purportedly outlining a national vision, the speech quickly devolved into what numerous observers described as a partisan boast, littered with grammatical stumbles and mispronunciations. The central pillar of this vision, repeated like a mantra, was an ambitious but vague plan to integrate Artificial Intelligence across Guyana’s development.
“It was painful to listen to,” said a teacher from Region Four, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “He was name-dropping ‘AI’ every other sentence, but it was clear he has no real grasp of what it means, its costs, or its dangers. It was just a buzzword to make a list of old promises sound new.”
The address which begin more than 40 minutes after the announced start time, was highly anticipated by many struggling citizens who expected a firm announcement on the allocation of a promised Christmas cash grant—a key election pledge. Instead, the grant was not mentioned after two hours of boring inanities about his government’s ‘vision for success’, as he buried his listening audience beneath what one citizen called “pie-in-the-sky promises.”
“The grant was dangled to get people to listen, then spent more than two hours talking about everything but,” another citizen stated. “You could see people online getting restless, then just dropping off the live. It was disrespectful. We’re worried about today’s bread, and he’s talking about a corruption filled tomorrow.”
Beyond the AI aspirations, the President’s frequent invocation of “partnership with the private sector” rang hollow for many business owners. “Which private sector?” asked a small business operator in the city. “There have been no public calls for proposals, no transparent bidding processes. When he says ‘private sector,’ and excludes the opposition from the national address, it’s not hard to guess he means his friends, families, and favorites. The rest of us are locked out.”
This perception was starkly underscored by the optics of the event itself. While the President proclaimed “Guyana is for Guyanese,” the front rows of the audience were conspicuously filled with foreign ambassadors. “The irony was breathtaking,” noted a civil society activist. “Our resources and future are being framed for Guyanese, but the seats of honor are reserved for those representing foreign capital and political interests. It tells you exactly who this ‘vision’ is really for.”
The overall sentiment from citizens paints a picture of a leader dangerously out of his depth. “He is clueless about the technology he’s promoting, and tone-deaf to the people he’s addressing,” summarized a retired public servant. “What we heard today wasn’t a plan. It was a poorly crafted script for more of the same; grand schemes that benefit a connected few, while the average Guyanese remains the victim of this government’s ill-will and wily schemes. Our patience has run out.”
