2026 1st HALF, LEADERSHIP. GOVERNANCE

THE 592 GUARDIAN. GOVERNANCE♦ACCOUNTABILITY

2026 1st Half: Leadership, Governance

The first half of 2026 is over. It’s really 10 months, a few days shorted. I’m counting that Guyana’s New Era began with Pres Ali’s second inaugural. Did he do better? Did governance in Guyana climb out of its hole? If so, was there a first step forward or many backwards?

Or, given governance and leadership characters, did Guyanese get the wayward? The sideways culture now normalized?

Prime Minister Mark Anthony Phillips once a soldier, is now a political guerilla fighter. More for party, less about country. With that handle, Mark Anthony, he could be a Roman orator or a Puerto Rican singer. Not he. Let it be: a proud, honorable Guyanese. Salutations, Marshall. Not fire, think field. PM Mark Anthony stood in Guyana’s equivalent of the Roman Forum, and perorated. Stabroek News will be taken care of soon. A man truer to his word there never was. Stabroek News was taken care of, the PPP and Mark Phillips way: it died and was buried. No resurrection.

There’s regard for men of honor. Leadership and governance, Guyana style, the PPP wiles. I like.

Another leader, one given to the garrulous and grandiose, is Guyana’s Master Governor. Whoever never heard of Excellency Ali is a failed AI experiment. In 2020, six years ago, not six months (or ten), Master Governor Ali swore to transparency and accountability. For Guyanese to get access to information, they have to get valid passport, FBI clearance, U.S. visa, and a red shirt. Naysayers, critics, and parasites are excluded. No matter what they have. Or what the law says. Pres Ali in fits of the fanciful said that’s not his cup of tea. British teaching. Like Pontius Pilate, Irfaan Ali washed his hands clean of the vulgar access to info affair. It’s Guyana’s Profumo Affair. It’s Leadership 601. Taught in the schools of Mao Zedong, Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi, DJ Trump, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Guyana’s Ali learned well.

Incidentally, he swore to unity in 2020. One Guyana still birthed. IDPADA-G almost died. The people at Mocha got sanitized. Some losing folks get a basketball. Others got shot. Seems a funny kind of unity, to me.

In September 2025 (Inaugural Palaver II), he promised an anti-corruption czar. The people at Office of the President, Freedom House, and major procurement outfits had serious cases of diarrhea. Their world almost ended. Wiser heads prevailed. Chatter about anticorruption czar disappeared. And, it’s only midyear. See, why like PM Mark Anthony, there’s such regard for HE Ali! PM Mark Anthony and Office of the Prime Minister are still in this gospel. They also had a fit when Excellency Ali swore to go after peddlers of misinformation and disinformation. Somebody gave him Confucius’ masterpiece: the hardest, the longest, journey begins with the first step. Dr. Ali has been treating himself for cramps, since September 2025.

Misinformation and disinformation, he discovered belatedly (or cleverly) is a PPP Govt monopolized, subsidized, and oversized business.

Bigger than Exxon. Have concerns about Silica City? Roll them, then smoke them. Need to know how all the oil money was spent? AK Singh has a machinegun called “national development priorities.” A load of buckshot mixed with bull-s*** sprayed on Guyanese. Who to watch more: Venezuelans with AK-47s or AK Singh with his scholarly arsenals? This is leadership. This is governance.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo took a sabbatical post September 2025. It was his own 9/11 great escape. Reimages himself as Steve McQueen. Who to put for 2030? Policymaker or kingmaker? Queenmaker isn’t a stretch. Spoke of resuming his press conferences. His handlers whispered: not the greatest idea. PPP dirty laundry all hung out to dry. Don’t make self a spectacle to deliver cheap shots. The White people are appalled, shrink in disbelief (disgust also). They have weight. They count. Cease and desist with all the carrying on and disgracing party, Cheddi, and the Yanquis. Decency reigned; 2030 strategy priority took over. Anil Nandlall couldn’t feature. Not after the CCJ extradition embarrassment. Though partially redeeming himself at the ICJ.

Fellow Guyanese -the book on 2026, its midpoint. Great news! The second half looks identical.