The shell presidency

Jun 07, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – What’s up, doc? Yeah, that’s the sad reflection of the state of the Guyana presidency. Dwindled to a cartoon. If it’s not shoveling snow, it’s shoveling that other four-letter word that stinks up the environment. The great office of presidency shrunk to a shell. To compensate, to signal life, there are those spasms with which Guyanese have become familiar. Volume at high pitch. Messages lacking substance. Where’s the follow-up? To give skeleton and muscle to all the grand things being said. Six years ago, and all the days in between, are recycled. Turbo-charged presentations. Excitements stirred. The bubble then bursts quickly enough. From an empty barrel to an empty paper bag. What’s up with that, doc?

From the broad lands of the Rupununi to tight spaces in the capital city, it is the same sob story of spending and sucking air. Citizens trapped by rising waters that add to their difficulties and national governance is of a picture that’s worth a thousand words. Make that 10,000. A shovel and thoughtful souls ensuring that’s captured on camera. The local world a stage. If there are still Guyanese with some spark in them, outrage would reign. People are struggling to keep their dignity, to keep dry, to keep some semblance of calm. There is what I label the moronic. Who has time to save for posterity such a self-savaging, self-wounding moment? But this is the priority. Paint a picture. Create an impression. Maintain the usual political fabrications. Now that that newest instance of political obeah is over, Guyanese by the thousands are still soaked to the spirit. Homes in disarray. Crops under stress. Sellers licking their lips. Buyers compelled to face old friends that’re such doggone leeches. Prices. Piercing more deeply, unearthing more anguished cries.

Who knows, but it could be that a deeper hole was being dug right in public to bury those citizens who have become a drag on the engine of the One Guyana machine. People who are loud when there’s suffering are the best. Look at real life and how it works: those who promise much and have nothing to give usually find some spin to keep their human objects guessing. Is this a half-truth or a half-lie? It is only when the hammer drops that victims realize how they have been led on. Again. Keep a victim distracted, keep he or she hanging. Study the situation and decide on something. Something that doesn’t cost anyhing. A shovel doesn’t require much. Nor a willing, helpful, forward-thinking videographer. All that’s needed is a soothing, convincing voiceover. My hand is raised. Never have so few shoveled so much (the same stuff not collected overnight anymore) to shore up the spirits of so many. Blessings from above! Not the liquid kind that hasn’t stopped. Remember that it’s only the beginning of June. The soak-and-soggy season is back with Guyanese.

Look at what happens in a country where there’s a shell presidency. Nothing works. Not drains. Not pumps. Not plans. Not practices. Of all things, the heads of politicians are in good form. Come up on the run with something. Any damn thing, to distract the Guyanese people from their predicaments. One more thing: and who’s responsible. Ahem, it’s not the rain gods. Remember those who collected the billions, and promised to be back. They are back and all over the place. Holding hands. Identifying with the stricken. Insisting how much they care.

I think that Guyanese can do better. Press for honesty. Accept only a straight story. No shovels. Some substance helps. Begin all over with the money and basic truths. Where are the people? Who in the PPP Govt. is ready for that type of attitude, can live with that kind of cheap action? Guyanese wanted a shell presidency. They got what they wanted.

(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, Guyana Presidency, shell presidency

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