Presidents must comport themselves with a modicum decorum

Jun 17, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

I refer to the article titled, “Oil blocks question by farmer angers Pres. Ali in Bartica” (KN June 16). If only for a lingering moment, this country’s head of state lost his head, had difficulty maintaining an even keel, and forgot to remember the high office that he holds. I remind His Excellency that he should take the greatest care, exercise the utmost patience, not to come across as a low street brawler, or a regular rum shop quarreler. After all, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali is the President, and both protocol and the etiquette of statesmanship, compels him to afford dignified reception to any question from any corner on any subject. Including those from naysayers; and no matter how controversial the question, or the seeming provocation that interferes with his spirit, that should never be enough for him to lose his cool in the raucous manner that he did.
Editor, Presidents are obliged to conduct themselves with a modicum of decorum. I remind Guyana’s President that he is not the lord of some feudal manner, who can talk down to citizens, or in any way that suits his whims and moods of the moment. His bearing must at all times be dignified, but of that, I do not have any expectations. End of story. Obviously, the current President has learned well from the past one about the abrasive and abusive; and if all that it takes is a simple inquiry to send him off the deep end, then I would humbly caution him not to try that with people made of sterner stuff, and maybe higher learning than his sole female questioner. If a question about oil blocks can get our grand leader to this heaving state, then he may have inadvertently opened the door to a barrage of relentless probing ones that are sure to get under his skin, and make him want to get even with verbal tormentors.
As I wrap my arms around what took place, it was that the President would brook no heresy (as identified by him alone) that collides with his script; and, indeed, it is a script that he has, the product of other people’s powers and pens. All the person asked for was a straightforward answer, and more importantly, a clean, convincing one. Instead of the honest answer, what the female farmer got was a propaganda seminar that spoke of someone who lacks the instincts for graciousness, and decided to go on either a marketing or elections campaign. I may be wrong, but I think I heard the President speak something that sounded like “moral infrastructure” being established, which has to be the biggest laugh around these parts, since what has been happening under his leadership has no relationship to a single thing that could speak persuasively to what is of the moral, other than some possibly make-believe kind.
It alarms that the President could get so worked up over a question about oil blocks that no reasonable person would categorise as a challenge, or demeaning. He had a duty to say this is where we are with old, disputed ones (if such was the objective); and this is what we are doing with the ones coming up for auction in a short while. I am perplexed that the President could be so thin-skinned over the thick secrecies and thicker controversies involving the management of oil under his headship. I wonder what is there to hide, there to fear, there to jab him in some sensitive part of his anatomy that what came from the President’s lips and pores was all rancid, rank, and riotous. Despite my low expectations of the nation’s leader, I had not given up on him. I still expected better in these situations.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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