President Ali – large on words, little when actions necessary

Feb 25, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali went on a rampage with his use of the word “commitment” in his Republic Day address. We note that the president used the word “commitment” 11 times in his speech. The president could be forgiven for his probable belief that if something is said often enough that it stands a high chance of being accepted as the unvarnished truth. We remind Guyana’s president that there was a leading German propagandist who also put a considerable amount of stock in that belief decades ago. The result was a country and its people left in utter ruins.

“Commitment” is a word that principled people take seriously. It means that the user of that word is binding himself or herself to a stated course of action. It is that no matter what is required, and regardless of the price to be paid, the commitment made will be honored in full. It is with significant regret that we assert that President Ali has failed to deliver on prior commitments. It has either been through the actions of his government, or in him walking back his own words where commitment featured in some form. We do not think that the president went out to deceive Guyanese deliberately, but that the pressure of circumstances forced him to rethink prior commitments or promises, and to do an about turn. The sad result has been that his commitments have not been fulfilled, or when they have been, much substance was missing.

One glaring example of a commitment made but not kept is on the burning, roiling issue of transparency. The PPPC Government in its three and a half years under President Ali has been a long exhibition of secrecy. Huge contracts have been signed by the Irfaan Ali government with likely many concessions embedded for foreign companies operating in this country’s rich mining fields, but the terms and conditions of many of those contracts are kept away from Guyanese. The practice of the government is as if those contracts and other sensitive reports are a private matter, political secrets that must be tightly guarded, not the business of the people. President Ali did not commit to secrecy in governance, he committed to transparency and accountability from his first official days but has since rejected appeals to be open and clear with Guyanese. Secrecy has been the norm. Secrecy has become a thriving culture under the Ali Administration, with solemn commitments meaning absolutely nothing. The award of the $865M Belle Vue pump station contract is a current example of a failed commitment to clean governance.

Not unreasonably, confidence falters in President Ali, when he mentions “commitment.” His government has repeatedly disappointed Guyanese, which has contributed to the chronic distrust that is now such a prominent feature in Guyanese life. This distrust goes to a higher plane relative to the PPPC Government dishonoring the commitments made by its leaders, with much disillusionment as the standing norm. Guyanese are at sea on the new numbers pertaining to the seven new oil discoveries so excitedly announced by ExxonMobil. The people who own the oil wealth are prevented from knowing how much more oil has been found by ExxonMobil because there is a PPPC Government that conspires with the American company to hide the rich details from them. President Ali may reassure himself that by repeating “commitment” 11 times in his holiday address, he has done his part. Whether 11 times or 111 times, if old commitments are honored in the breach, then few citizens believe in the new ones made last Mash Day.

So, when President Ali commits to better salaries and working conditions in the future, many believe he is mostly about hot air, and more empty platitudes. Why is he talking about better in the future, when ExxonMobil is delivering riches from Guyana’s patrimony to its shareholders today? Today, not in some hazy, mysterious future that may never materialize. ExxonMobil’s people are prospering today, and Guyanese should also prosper today. Weak leaders love to make commitments about better for citizens in the future. Leaders are doing better in the present; the people must wait for the future. History proves that the better future promised usually never comes.

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Editorial, Guyana, President Irfaan Ali, principled, Republic Day

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