Irfaan Ali is meeting a larger constituency

Feb 25, 2019 Features / Columnists, Letters

Dear Editor,
Maruranau, Nappi, Aishalton, Karadarnauwa, Katoonarib, Potannau, Rukumuta. Irfaan Ali has been traveling throughout Guyana, these are but a few of the names of villages visited in the Rupununi recently.
Irfaan has visited seven of the ten regions of Guyana so far on his mission to listen to the voice of the people, their concerns, needs and proposed solutions. Irfaan is well known to people in the areas where he worked to establish housing schemes. He is meeting a larger constituency now, with concerns small and large.
He is campaigning, but most important, he is a leader who listens to voices other than those in Georgetown. It may offend the elitist of our capital city, but it is exactly what Guyana needs.
On Republic day, Georgetown got to meet Irfaan Ali as he led the parade of the PPPC Mashramani float; the interaction was most interesting; the band almost ground to a halt, moving at a snail’s pace as many reached out to press the flesh, take selfies, offer words of encouragement, talk; it took over three hours to move from the seawall to Church street along Vlissingen Road.
As the new week dawns, Irfaan Ali will be gone from Georgetown again. ‘Missing’ is the word that will be used to describe a candidate who actually dares to be different. Irfaan Ali is doing what he needs to; he has a very capable party supporting him.
A General Secretary who was President of Guyana for a dozen years is holding the fort in Georgetown. Activists are walking in every neighborhood, in every region, sharing flyers filled with information, engaging with residents, noting concerns and building a database of issues to be addressed.
A vast team of volunteers is working for a common cause; gathering information required for good governance.
Editor, some may say the Georgetown elite are being hypocritical when they ask ‘Where is Irfaan Ali?’ Based on the reaction from the crowd on Mash Day, I would suggest it is a plea for leadership from an elite abandoned by the quintessential elitist elected in 2015; one who became so far removed from the ordinary Guyanese that he offers the excuse of health as he refuses to shake their hands, occasionally engages with ‘fist bumps with his Prime Minister but yet was observed shaking hands with foreign dignitaries at a poetry event.
Actions speak louder than words, and the outpouring of warmth for Irfaan is a harbinger of beautiful future for all Guyanese.
Respectfully
Robin Singh

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