Open to constructive criticism

Feb 03, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

I refer to the caption, “I am open to constructive criticism” (SN February 02). If Guyana’s head of state thought he has impressed the nation, then he is not only suffering from misplaced confidence, but he has lost his head. He neither amuses nor impresses; he can’t be serious. Where to start?
First, President Ali has been a study in silence and the scanty, where vital matters of this country are involved; what he has not omitted, he has turned his back on (when questioned), by pretending to be absentminded or hearing impaired, in setting his face obstinately. Not that one, not that issue, not now. This is the leader who rousingly promised to be about transparency and accountability, to which I hold him tightly. I should be guilty of a gross indecency, a palpable disrespect for the high office that Dr. Ali holds, if I were to tar him with disingenuousness or, worse, deliberate deception. I should, but I do not; I leave his own actions to confirm performance on his promises, or to condemn him for the litany of trickeries heaped on a largely gullible, uncaring society.
When President Ali swears to the people, including swooning supporters, he is not some panting sycophant, but a leader that should never betray or sellout or dilute delivery on what matters to all citizens. For the enlightenment of the esteemed and glorious leader (No! I am not North Korean), I dare to criticize him constructively and humbly. President Ali has not delivered on reports related to the oversight of the nation’s oil wealth; he has back peddled on promises; exemplary as leader of scripted words that are rhetorically flashy, but shallow in ensuing reality. The narratives from the president have been appealing, yet he has not made good on those narratives. The nation waits, but less trusting now.
When President Ali committed to clean governance, I said to myself: though I voted against, this new man, younger man, arranged bridegroom, must have space and spiritual support to perform and deliver. I criticize President Ali for not so doing. For Guyana cannot have clean governance, when so many besmirched human recyclables are exhumed to lead forward. As I criticize the president – constructively and justifiably in my mind – I submit that there cannot be clean governance when there are so many venal, unclean, and unreconstructed incorrigibles piloting so many pivotal public places. His Excellency is aware of their history, identity, and lack of integrity and credibility, where the people’s business is involved. When President Ali surrounds himself with so many timeworn misfits, holds to his breast as treasured comrades, then he is not about clean governance, or about what is best for this society. I so criticize him, for those actions that damn him before the court of honest public opinion.
Editor, President Ali’s still short reign stands as a monument to his mistreatment of citizens on what means something to them; when he treats them like halfwits. That he has projected this in a dimwitted way does not accrue to his person, office, or record. I regret the president sets this tone. He bars sections of the press and then feeds the same people barred the next day, and they run to eat the fare paid for the taxpayers they represent. I understand how and why President Ali gets away with what he does. I recall that when a reporter was excluded by a ranking government stalwart, members of this same scorned press body objected en masse in what was their shining hour. Times change; people, too.
Oh, I can continue and criticize President Ali about his retreats and vacillations on those murderous West Berbice developments, on his splurge of borrowings – recent past, present, and intended – on his reluctance to treat with straightness, and make it an inseparable aspect of his substance, leadership, and objectives. But I cannot. He has been the epitome of what is smugly dodgy and hedgy. I can criticize him for not being his own man, but a placeholder, but I won’t.
Editor, I wish that I did not have to articulate any of those positions that speak to presidential realities, but I had to, as there was no other way. I thank the president for opening that door. I trust that neither he (nor his people) will slam it on the toes and faces of this nation.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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