By KNEWS

Copyright kaieteurnewsonline

The Leader of the Opposition in waiting

Sep 21, 2025
Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – A good number of Guyanese expects a lot from Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, the Leader of the Opposition in waiting. He cannot be ordinary. Above average is not going to cut the mustard. He has to be extraordinary. For those who think that I am raising the bar a little too high for the newly arrived Mr. Mohamed, my response is honey itself: get used to it. Not just for him, but for Pres. Ali, Vice Pres. Jagdeo, Terrence Campbell, Ms. Walton-Desir, and anyone else that attracts the moment, or is not quite up to scratch for the Guyanese people. Holding public office comes with its prices, calls for a tough skin, and a willingness to take the rough seas with the smooth ones, and carry on as if they are the same.

What I have generously extended to Pres. Ali is extended to Mr. Mohamed and Dr. Campbell. The leeway of the first hundred days. Get feet wet, keep nose clean, and friendship will prevail, maybe even blossom. Frankly, my preference is for a barren tree line, thornbush groves. Mr. Mohamed. He is a political neophyte untutored in the nuance of national policy, and the cut and thrust of bruising, often battering, debate. He had better be a good listener, a quick learner, a man who surrounds himself with people who will guide him, tell him as it is, and be ready to adjust to changing circumstances. He has earned a name for himself in the realm of commerce, and that isn’t a picnic, especially when the business is on the precarious side. He must neither shrink from the challenge nor be afraid of making mistakes. What I have said to the president and vice president on more than one occasion, I now offer free of charge to Mr. Mohamed. Spend less time looking in the mirror, and most of the time looking at the needs and interests and hurts of Guyanese.

The people don’t need prima donnas. They are desperately in need of godfathers, soul brothers, and psychic motivators. Money is a good balm. Effort is better. Sincerity and compassion cannot be beat. Guyanese have been conned so often and so long, they can smell a rat from a mile away, and that is in the middle of a thunderstorm. How Mr. Mohamed will prepare himself for the job that is before him is his business. But since I am Mr. Helpful around here, he has to do his homework by out-preparing and outhustling all of his competitors. He is the poor man’s and hopeless Guyanese woman’s candidate. As such, his constituency is not on the lookout for blinding flashes of oratorical lightning. They want a leader who walks with his own lunch bucket, one who deals in their bread-and-butter issues, and makes them feel good about themselves for having vested their trust in him.

Mohamed is supposed to be representing the hopes and dreams of the grassroots. He must continue with boots on the grass of the hood, and not forget for a moment, the roots people who shoved him to where he is. The PNC made that mistake during its 2015-2020 reign. His call is fight for them in parliament, despite the odds and hostile temperature. Nobody is going to give him an inch. But he must always be ready to give his all to the people who believed in him. On paper, he is not a man, a leader, that generates a great deal of excitement. But that is no yardstick, as Guyana has had crop after crop of men who looked good on paper (and sounded sweet from the political bully pulpit) only fizzle out like a punctured balloon in real life, which is all that counts. For those waiting for names, the time is better spent reading a comic book, or looking at one of those local soap operas.

Also, I am aware rather hazily that Guyana has had a galaxy of opposition leaders that included a dentist, a lawyer, an economist, a diplomat, and a tired streetfighter. How much better is this country and its citizens for that gang of great Guyanese, that’s the question for contemporary domestic observers, and future historians. I give a little sneak preview: they have done well for themselves, with an exception or two. Regarding the lot of the people, well, they are still lining up and making a big stink of being pushed to the back of the line for a house lot.

The bottom line is that Mr. Azruddin Mohamed has shown that he can campaign and come out intact, while somehow holding a winning hand. Now he must demonstrate that he can withstand warm, flat champagne, the brackishness of black tea, and the pungent sting of bush rum with a smile on his face. I just gave him an intro to parliamentary politics using liquid language.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

Azruddin Mohamed, GHK Lall, Leader of the Opposition