HE Ali -updated sketch -a leader in shreds –Part II

HE Ali -updated sketch -a leader in shreds –Part II

OPINION BY: GHK LALL September 2026 

I hate to disappoint, but I must.  To the legions of PPP Govt Lall readers, followers, and worshippers, my apologies.  The transfixed include men and women at the Office of the President, wherever the Vice President makes his base of operations, and the working barracks of the Hon Prime Minister.  Be assured, Mon General, that no offense was intended in listing at number three in the PPP Govt lineup.  First Vice President has to mean something.  Why not first, as in truly first, and not lagging behind the former president?  I must fix.

I had promised Part Two of Pres Ali: a sketch in shreds.  But, honest to gawd, I shrink from going through with it.  Or to put differently, I have it done, but weigh withholding out of deference to the highest office in Guyana.  Due to the state of the holder.  Enduring bruising salvos of withering fire that don’t stop.  A massacre, it has been.  For a sitting duck he is.  No answers, no standing; making him the object of much condemnation.  It’s not kosher to pound a case that’s virtually helpless (and clueless), almost like a lizard spreadeagled on a rock. 

It’s sinful to take advantage of the hobbled, frail, and already miserable. Why pile on?  No matter how much it has been earned, and by unprecedented lengths.  It’s confession time.

I feel for the president.  Sorrow isn’t quite the word.  Shame is closer to the truth.  He keeps his mouth shut and all and sundry are of the opinion that he is a blank slate, nothing to offer.  He opens his mouth and everyone, except a paid handful, and the family puppy, thinks of him as a damp squid.  One that flattered to no avail.  One fallen on bad times.  One who lost his lines.  One who has no punchline.  When a leader, any man, has to carry the combined burdens of those on his head, it shouldn’t surprise at the state of his head?  If a head-of-state cannot keep a good head, then what outcome for that State?  To state this rather harshly, is that a State of repute?  A state worthy of its patrimony? 

What kind of State would still show its face among sister nations, when its own head is in such a state of jeopardy?

In the circumstances, I would have to be a butcher, a bruiser, a cold-blooded dispatcher to treat Guyana First Citizen, this nation’s favorite son, as if he is a forlorn, best forgotten, has-been.  A mistake allowed to linger way past its time.  An inviting punching bag that’s no longer worth the effort, doesn’t generate the spirit.  I find myself in a good place.  There can be looking at the Office of the Presidency, and a sweep of contentment takes over.  The incumbent is more reticent, these days.  The intervals between the frothy stuff that comes before the dribbling deluge of misplaced emphases (Opposition Leader and spotlighting him) are now noticeably longer.  All my hard work has yielded some belated results.  What would I do to recapture those lost hours and years of painstaking correction?  What would I not sacrifice for the presidency of this Republic to regain some footing, some lost luster!

Finally, when a leader begins to fancy himself God’s gift to Guyana, it is time that Guyanese get a sense of urgency.  Spend the money.  Go to Duke Street, Get a U.S. visa.  And get the hell out of here.  The record will confirm that I did my best to save the president from himself.  His own history will reiterate that he was prone to put his foot in his mouth.  Worse yet, then came a season of foot-and mouth events that still have many miles to go. 

The night is long, and the hour is dark.  I, too, still have a long way to go.  Lead kindly light.  Then, let me lead those who have no light in them to that place of grace.  I’m looking at my president.