First Pres. Reagan, time for Pres. Ali

Jan 31, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – When President Reagan went to the White House, Bedtime for Bonzo, gained a new home and renewed fame. The forgettable B-grade film, featured a chimpanzee as Reagan’s costar. A fine team, some would say. So, at home was Mr. Reagan with his cinematic companion, that he never really rose above that station. A presidential precedent was set 75 years ago. From America, it’s to Guyana. Considering his love of theatrics, Guyana’s Pres. Ali has a choice of costars: leopard or chameleon. A step up from a chimp, but still an Animal Farm environment, even when looked at benevolently.

A leopard and its spots are as old as the forests, as unchanging as the tides that influence the streams of life. There’s something about Pres. Ali and spots. He blows and glows, then slows. To a crawl. He blinks and right before the eyes he transforms from smooth, silky Dr. Jekyll into the unimaginable, something unrecognizable. One position ran with in January, words that deeply touched Guyanese hearts, only for a change to come over him, and the big promise of December held over to January 2026. More realistically, fulfillment happens by the first quarter’s close, if not late April.

The leopard and its spots; the latter dulled by age, and overtaken by the growth of a rich mane that pushes characteristic spots even deeper beneath the surface. There is something that nags, that is unshakeable, relative to how spotted and speckled the president can be. Ronald Reagan had his chimpanzee. Irfaan Ali has his gaggle of leopards. Spare ones are necessary, since he goes through them so rapidly.

Still, I think that in the tossup between the choice of local presidential costars is one that’s unsettled. For Pres. Ali can also be like that other fabled strutting creature of legend -the chameleon. Instead of laser technology that captures images of spots changing, there is the mystery that baffles natural scientists and political science. It is of the chameleon changing colors. President Ali has run through the rainbow, left no hue untouched, so versatile he is; almost like shifting winds that curl and swirl, circle around and have difficulty straightening out. He can be red in the face, which is PPP rapture when among insiders and those who have made a man of themselves as hustlers. His complexion changes to crimson PPP fury when forced to interact with the company of those who made it into his party’s enemies lists. Yes, there’s more than one. They speak to more than a long history. They are of a longer memory. One that an elephant would part with tusks and trunk to claim as his own.

I have watched as Pres. Ali stood tall with one posture; think of money for the poor people of Guyana. I watch when the people shrank in disbelief when he crumpled into a ball and rolled for any dark place to hide from the public eye. From bright green (cash) to dismal grey (nothing doing [yet]). Bright and beautiful have been some of his words, only for him to grab them back, swallow them, and pretend that they never existed. Oy vey! Misinformation and disinformation made the headlines. Now they are strangers to the president. In the hands of his people, from the mouths of his own, misinformation and disinformation, however malevolent, count as prime news, if not gospel. God forbid a Guyanese from the government’s enemies list slipping and making that mistake. It would be guillotine time. Law and order, respect for it, and a Guyana Police Force suddenly finding energy, and ready to get at alleged lawbreakers.

It surprises that given some of the promises walked back by the president have not been blamed on AI creations, or the fabrications of fakirs, with the objective of attaching His Excellency to what was not said. A year ago, a defense of sorts, or a dodge, may have been offered in the public domain. Now that there is an unassailable seven seat advantage, there is not even the condescension of clearing the air to make the president look whiter and shinier. Now he pronounces, as though from on high, then sometimes breaking, sometimes mocking, what he himself said.

Presidential spots switching, or colors changing? Guyanese get the privilege of weighing and deciding.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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GHK Lall, Irfaan Ali, President Reagan, White House

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