The President and the media

Jul 02, 2025 Editorial, News

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Kaieteur News – Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram recently wrote on how President Irfaan Ali has diminished the presidency, both by his conduct and leadership style.

Ram posited that the presidency is the most sacred office in our Republic – its occupant sworn to uphold the Constitution and to serve all the people without fear or favour. He said however under President Ali, that office has been diminished – “through evasion, manipulation, and a style of governance that rewards loyalty over merit, secrecy over transparency, and partisanship over national unity.”

He said it is a presidency that serves first the Party, then its leaders, its loyalists, and finally, their families and friends. President Ali neither his office has come out with a statement challenging Mr. Ram’s assertion, although Public Relations Consultant, Kit Nascimento came to his defence. Yesterday on the sidelines of an event at the St George’s High School- Guyanese had another chance to see for themselves what our President is made of.

A young journalist sought answers on his government’s troubling resort to using a US lobby firm being paid for with tax payer’s dollars to smear Presidential Candidate, Azruddin Mohamed, linking him to Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro. What followed was confirmation of Mr. Ram’s assessment of the presidency and the holder of the office. The crude manner in which he spoke to the reporter was so bad that veteran journalist Denis Chabrol was forced to intervene in support of his colleagues. We have seen this type of street brawl before by the president, not dissimilar to his standard bearer, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.

“I don’t understand what you are saying about a lobbying firm being hired, the Government has hired no lobbying firm to target anyone, so the premise of your question is wrong and you need to come again, and you need to come again with facts”, he said in response to a question posed by News Source.
The fact is that five proposed tweets, prepared by Continental Strategy LLC- the lobby firm hired by the President Ali Government refer to Mohamed as a “pro-Maduro puppet” and were submitted to a U.S. congressional office as part of the firm’s lobbying efforts on behalf of the Government of Guyana.

Already one Congressman Carlos Gimenez published one of the tweets from his personal account, echoing the firm’s accusations. He stated: “In the U.S.

Congress, we are alarmed by the regime in Venezuela’s attempt to undermine #Guyana through its pro-Maduro puppet candidate Azruddin Mohamed, who is sanctioned by OFAC! The Western Hemisphere must remain a stronghold of freedom — not a breeding ground for communist dictatorships.”

The fact is according to public filings with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Guyanese Government signed a six-month agreement with Continental Strategy LLC in December 2024, which President Ali has admitted. The contract is worth US$50,000 per month and outlines that the firm would provide lobbying and government relations services to Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aim, according to the filing, is to: (1) increase U.S. trade and investment in Guyana; (2) assist in financial sector reforms; and (3) raise Guyana’s profile in the United States. The firm’s duties include lobbying, preparing and disseminating informational materials, and engaging directly with U.S. policymakers.

As we reported yesterday on June 23, John Barsa, a partner at Continental Strategy, emailed the Director of Communications for U.S. Congressman Carlos Gimenez, sharing the five draft tweets. In the email, Barsa clarified he was sending the material “on behalf of the Government of Guyana.” So, for the President to deny that his government was not part of any plan to link Mohamed to Maduro as part of a larger smear campaign is at best disingenuous. It was the same evasive approach the President used when Mohamed had released WhatsApp messages between them on the matter of taxes for luxury vehicles. When he was confronted with documented evidence that he facilitated the undervaluation for customs purposes of a high-end vehicle, the President ridiculed the source.

We have said here before that President Ali’s press conferences and press engagements whatever they are called have mostly been characterised by bluster and bravado when dealing with locals. However, when he should be at his strongest and frankest, i.e., with foreign investors and partners, he operates in secrecy, surrendering on his knees, and speaking in respectful tones. He very quickly and efficiently finds manners and mind his manners when foreigners are in the room. The local media is not engaged then, but blocked out. When the media dare to ask pertinent questions on vital issues, Ali retreat behind walls of silence, or bash independent media professionals with verbal broadsides. Ali is a President who prefers the soft questions, the sweet subjects, that are not among the most concerning issues in the minds of Guyanese. Guyanese taxpayers millions are misused to make friendly media men and women into spectacles of themselves.

Key information is twisted or withheld on crucial issues, like oil. And when Ali wants to look good, he engages in these trash talking sessions that he says with a straight face are press conferences. Guyanese are abused, standards are abused, a culture of media misuse with the resulting darkness and ignorance taking hold. Leaders lead by example governments govern with fidelity to principle. When those are laughed at, then Guyanese get the press riots that they get.

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Christopher Ram, Editorial, US lobby firm

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