Pres. Ali attracts disdain on the national family

Jul 06, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – President Ali is a disappointment. A bigger and bigger one, sadly. No learning from slippages. Barging ahead, unthinkingly. Blame rests on his advisers, handlers. Their duty is to protect the president. From himself. It was the Fourth. Not an ordinary one. But the soaring, sprawling celebration of 250 years of cherished American liberty. U.S. Ambassador, Excellency Nicole D. Theriot had her say, said it well. On taking the podium, Guyana’s Pres. Ali started out on the right foot, then his compass gyrated. A stumbling came. Rather ghastly, I think. Sullying an extraordinary moment. Imperiling to the ambience of more delicate sensibilities. Foreign ones mostly; local ones faded way back.

“In Guyana today, we are accustomed to seeing people walk on examples and still criticise.” Seriously, Excellency? Was that really necessary, Mr. President? Throwing a tantrum, stamping feet, before assembled guests of the ambassador (and Guyana, also). Unseeming, ungracious, and uncouth. Disturbingly so. I try with my president. Efforts to set him on the right path are usually brushed off, mocked. It’s why the people who come from what Guyanese call the ‘outside’ look down their noses on the natives. President Ali may lull himself into thinking that he is excluded from such a putdown. He would be shocked. Foreigners humour him because of Guyana’s oil kingdom. He is a keyholder.

‘Aw shucks, man,’ it was the 250th anniversary celebration of an honoured presence. Therefore, wrong time and wrong place to curse critics. Wrong occasion to banish Guyanese parasites to some specially constructed PPP Government gulag. What kind of a man, one who should be an example for society, goes into a glittering gathering and growls? Does a man enter a birthday bash, bumps everybody out of the way, and blasts away? To display the bile and acids (maybe stored toxins, I muse) that fester inside of him. It’s a democracy, Brother Ali. Ideals include freedom to think and freedom to speak. Remember, skipper?

The very celebration that the president graced (used guardedly) with his ennobling and enrobed presence stands as a singular testimony. To bold men and women who treasured freedom from the suffocation of a Crown, and did something about it. The King of England could have claimed to be a recipient of the divine right of kings. To rule and to tax. Revolutionary Americans didn’t give a damn about any such self-assigned sacredness (sanctity), refused to prostrate themselves, grovel. Real men, real leaders, rise and roar their resistance in such times. I would appreciate if someone in the government would connect the dots, if wise enough; then, present to Excellency Ali, with my compliments.

Guyana is now an oil power. A country among countries. Though many of its citizens are starving, which the president rejects, Guyana is now the going place. Foreigners are galloping to get here before others. To grab their share of Guyana’s riches. Thus, would be immensely beneficial to this country’s standing, if its head-of-state comports himself like a, well, genuine head-of-state. One overflowing with confidence, and with just the right dash of the debonair. That is, in the stateliest of fashions at all times.

Having delivered his verbal volley, maturity and the decorum of true statesmanship required Pres. Ali to call it quits, and immerse himself in the ambassador’s hospitality. Instead, Guyana’s headman chose to deposit another verbal sledge, when he praised the ambassador for working “relentlessly behind cameras, behind the noise, quietly.” Noise, chief! Clearly, the president can’t help himself. His spitefulness (“noise”) must be vented. What point is proved, Dr. President? American ambassadors don’t need applause from Guyanese presidents. They do just what Her Excellency is doing. Carry America’s flag. Sell America’s brand. I humbly recommend that Pres. Ali use that example and order some of his own ambassadors to stop making utter fools of themselves and do some real work. For the record: happy Fourth to Excellency Theriot and the team.

(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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disdain, GHK Lall, President Ali

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