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Pres. Ali in a groove
Editorial…
Kaieteur News- Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, has found his groove. He is slipperier than a greased eel, and then some more. The head of state is slowly developing a confident mastery with shifting the wicket of discussion on important issues to suit his own objectives. Whatever they are, they are usually not in the best interests of Guyanese. The most recent example of President Ali’s caginess involved the abduction and eventual discovery of a dead child’s body. The president blames a civilian for sharing incorrect information, which enjoyed wide circulation. The family is at odds with the president, for their information tracks directly to the Police Regional Commander, Asst. Commissioner Khalid Mandall.
According to two family members, Adriane Younge’s mother and her aunt, Commander Mandall repeatedly claimed that the police was in possession of video evidence confirming that the missing child was seen leaving the premises of the now notorious Double Day hotel in a vehicle. Did Commander Mandall misspeak, or did Adriane Younge’s mother and aunt mishear him? Mandall has since been removed from his post, and it is doubtful that he will be allowed to shed any light, for the time being, on what he said to the family. President Ali, however, is not known to hesitate for too long when people under his government conduct themselves in a less-than-convincing fashion. Like the proverbial overweight elephant, he simply charges in and scatters what is on the table. He points to a civilian who was irresponsible and provided misleading information.
Reason compels being skeptical on who is coming up with their own narratives and defences, when it is convenient to do so. From the inception, President Ali has been about one consistent line. He wants to get to the bottom of the circumstances, and will leave no stone unturned to get to the truth of Younge’s death. Using his own standard, there must be less haste to stuff a civilian into this sordid matter of a dead child, and more listening to what a grieving mother is insisting was told to her. Not by one police rank or one officer, but the most senior officer in Regional Commander Mandall. Also, according to the child’s aunt, evidence of her leaving in a vehicle was stated to her by Mandall: ‘We have a video here…we have a video showing that the girl left…” To a reasonable person, that sounds very plausible, but the president has his civilian, who is now being held up as a scapegoat.
Scapegoat manufactured, or the slipperiness for which the government and the president keep developing an impressive record. He had committed to leading a lot of remedial efforts relative to the 2016 ExxonMobil Production Sharing Agreement. It is an oil contract that is so one-sided that it capsizes over and over from that pronounced tilt. Once his leadership reign got going, however, President Ali slipped out of his party’s prior commitments, and his own ‘review and renegotiate’ posture, under the banner of “sanctity of contract.” Even an eel that is long past its best days would have been proud of the president for his ease with the slippery. In the proven manner of his mentor and role model, Vice President Jagdeo, President Ali is fast becoming an expert at evading the heat of the moment or distracting Guyanese with red herrings. He does a wiggle of his hand, and of his lips, and sends Guyanese chasing after phantoms. His newfound civilian whipping post is the newest example.
Try to pin down the president on accountability, and his appallingly incredible response is that his government has been transparent. It is so transparent that an office funded by taxpayers with over $40M to provide information on how the government conducts its business unearths three responses. A commissioner hiding behind a curtain, and a letter to the press that is a drooling, woozy tirade against those picketing the legally mandated office for access to information. Guyanese got that for their $40M plus that props up the operations of that office. The third response was from President Ali, who was at his slipperiest best: protestors are “politically motivated.” It’s vintage Ali, an eel on a banana peel.
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