Anand Persaud calls out, castigates, the PPP Govt.

May 13, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – Governments govern. Leaders lead. Media reports on governance, leadership. People pronounce on the quality of both. I do. Anand Persaud did. As the former editor-in-chief of the much-praised, much-missed, Stabroek News, he would know about governance, leadership, press freedom, and the elements riven through all three. He was afire. Pres. Ali should feel the heat on his brow. If he still has such, is capable of differentiating heat from cool. The inspiring and upright from the ingratiating and groveling.

“Squander-mania” may be heavy for Excellency Ali. I simplify: government wastage, thoughtless (some say foolishness) leadership. Mr. Ali has choices. To pick and choose. To project standards. To appreciate how he now appears globally. Mr. Persaud used “squander-mania” to describe the actions of the Ali government. Try stronger medicine. Deformed. Twisted. Megalomaniacal. Consisting largely of shadows and the shadowy fearing their reflections. A government teetering on insolvency’s edge, unable to pay GY$86-87 million, I could seek pardon. But why plead when a government is awash in coinage and bullion, and refuses to honour its obligations? I think that government is a prime candidate for moral bankruptcy. May Prime Minister Mark Phillips’ people convey my regards to his honour. I deliver the same favour to the peerless Mohamed Irfaan Ali who’s all volume and vigour about accountability. Then, pathetically, there is the indecency of GY$86-87 million owed, dangled, withheld and weaponized to detonate Stabroek News. Still, Ali forever plays at not understanding why damnations dog his tracks and his government (govt.).

The PPP Govt. can rush to advance a portion of US$102 million to Lindsayca-CH4. But is unable, unwilling, and unscrupulous enough to withhold less than that amount in Guyana millions to Stabroek News. Whoever in Guyana is offended, I regret having to employ words that dark and dirty times make compulsory. Like I have said many times before, just to write about these sisters and brothers, sometimes identify them, stains me immeasurably, wounds deeply. For transparency’s purposes: what was the objective of withholding GY$86-87 million from SN, if not to hasten its end? Takeaway oxygen, refuse available transfusions, and I think that the objective is to create a corpse. Perhaps, PM Phillips stands differently. If so, he should be man enough to share. After all, he’s a soldier. Should the ever-voluble Pres. Ali wish to break his uncharacteristic silence, that too would be well-received. Ali may also see himself as a soldier. My concern is in service to what cause.

The man from SN, Citizen Persaud, warned of ‘press freedom under threat.’ When has it not been in Guyana? Burnham. Jagdeo. Now there is Phillips, Ali. To hear them tell it, they are God’s gift to press freedom in Guyana. What ‘govt. overreach’ could Anand Persaud have in mind, when PM Phillips spoke in Guyana’s most hallowed house of the PPP being a government that honours it debts. When a man can say that in the holy of holies, then crumble, there must be lesser gods dictating his thinking, actions. When the president expounds on transparency, accountability, unity, but prompts thinking of a shaky citizen, Stabroek News’ fall was inevitable.

When secrets abound: Wales GTE. Silica City. Information accessibility. Cost-of-living contingencies (slush funds). Where’s transparency, honesty, accountability, democracy, leadership integrity? No ad money. No ventilation.

Why does the PPP Govt., leaders, and cabals fear light so much? What have they done? Why are media professionals so tentative around layered secrets, so friendly with those who mangle independent thought, free expression? Might as well that they choke-and-rob unsuspecting Guyanese to feed their children. Mr. Persaud spoke of the ‘totalitarian’ slipping in when ignorance inundates. When independent media collapses on itself, it’s an invitation for tinpot dictators, sawdust Caesars, and sleazy Hitlers to reign unchecked. In strangling SN, the PPP Govt. may have created the beast that devours it.

(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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Anand Persaud, GHK Lall, Media reports, PPP

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