Presidential volume

Aug 17, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We had braced ourselves for this day. President Ali did the honours through what was bizarre at times, earsplitting otherwise. In a truly cringeworthy exhibition of leadership gone topsy-turvy, the president took his show to the International Building Expo and let loose. It was a thunderous barrage of sound at the worst possible moment.

We are embarrassed that there does not seem to be anyone in the president’s party, or his cluster of close advisors at the Office of the President, who has the guts to show him the ropes and the way that certain things are done. Worse yet, we shrink in embarrassment at the spectacle that the president has made of this country before an audience that included a group of foreign attendees. Members of the diplomatic corps had the best seat in the proceedings, right in the front row. It is reasonable to believe that they walked away with a less than wholesome appreciation for Guyana’s president comfort level with high volume. His highly charged body language spoke so much towards what was negative, and both his verbal comportment and demeanor were of someone who is at home with a few of the uncivil ingredients of life.

There is an old saying that there is a time and place for everything. Apparently, President Ali either didn’t get that memo, or if he did, he was too casual in reading it and absorbing its substances, implications. There is another old saying that may be seen by the young head of state as old-fashioned. Whether he does or not, it would be in his best interests if he considers the value of refinement makes the man. If for no other reason, it would be a feather in this country’s cap, if its leader sets the standard pertaining to that, while being applauded and respected for it. A quiet word goes a long way, but President Ali has grown familiar, way too familiar some may assert, with believing and embracing the opposite. For some reason, he has concluded that most engagements are an opportunity to give a demonstration of the carrying power of his lungs. One wonders if he would think it appropriate to sound off at deafening decibels during a funeral service and peel the paint off the walls in a religious house of worship.

We respectfully caution the president that not every occasion should amount to show of strength, as if a test of manhood is called for, must be proved. Further, not every speaking opportunity, often a matter of protocol or a courtesy extended to a sitting president, should be made into what comes across as nothing but the fire and ire of a political campaign in full swing. The heat of political campaigns, like the highly pitched sound sprees in an out-of-control rum shop, has its own culture and seasoned practitioners, of which the president is an impatient master in waiting.

It pains us to remind the president that an International Building Expo at the Providence National Stadium, one that has been graced by diplomats and a noticeable foreign contingent ought not to be understood or equated with that of an overheated political campaign. We believe that President Ali knows this but has reached a state of mind where such constraints matter little to him. If he doesn’t know, then it is vital that someone in his circle of senior people summon the courage to relay this to him and save him from himself. Frankly, our priority is less about the president and more about the regard in which this country is held.

Like never before in its history, Guyana is at the center of the world’s attention. When the president, or any national leader for that matter, is a statesman, then this country is embraced as a civilized entity, one with which to do business by investing money and time. On the other hand, if the man in charge is seen as an empty shell that compensates with incessant volume, more harm than good is done. In a spirit of care for the president and the nation, we hope that he would take this well-intended message to heart and make some timely and necessary adjustments.

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appreciation, foreign, Ingredients, International Building Expo, Presidential

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