By Stabroek News

Copyright stabroeknews

Dear Editor,

President Ali has disappointed. It is all that I will say right now. I gave my word not to criticize the president or the new PPP Government for their first hundred days, and I intend to honour that commitment. Still, the president himself has given enough room in his second inaugural address for me to present gentle reminders in this public space. No condemnation to cause convulsions. Only reminders as to what should come from the speaker, a national leader who is an oath taker, a promiser of great things in Guyana, for Guyanese.

From that same second inaugural not yet faded into the mists of amnesia, I share some extracts, as they emerged straight from Pres. Ali’s lips. I took the liberty of taking him at his word, believing he meant what he said. To fellow citizens, I say try these few sparkling excerpts. “History has placed in our hands the resources, the leadership, the opportunities, the partnerships and the international goodwill to transform promise into reality. But this transformation will not happen by itself. We need everyone on board”.

Dr. President, it pains me to say this, but I must: “We need everyone onboard” suffers from the exclusion of Stabroek News, Prime News, Capital News, and other news houses. May I say, sir, in this public space, that these exclusions diminish visions for a positive restart, and subtracts from “everyone on board?” I am certain that Pres. Ali sees this exactly as I do, will make adjustments.

Because it was Pres. Ali himself who said during that sun-soaked Sunday, September 7 second inaugural that “We recognize and respect the essential watchdog role of the media.” The resident diplomatic corps was in the audience, plus the wider international community. It would be unseemly, come across as coarse (or worse) for Pres. Ali to walk back so early on those 11 words that included “recognize and respect” and “essential watchdog role”.

What happened on Tuesday negated the president inaugural promise. From the start, Pres. Ali very first press conference after his inauguration was calculated to constrain and restrict the same media that he recognizes has an important job to do. The ground rules of six areas and six questions with no follow-ups can only be construed as intended to control and limit the media in the performance of its work in an unfettered manner.

Then, there is the fact of those media houses not invited. That leaves me stranded, when I think that Pres. Ali was sincere in his inaugural about the media and its valued place.

In that same inaugural, the singular presence of Pres. Ali reached high, when he swore that there will be trouble for those who “destroy peace and security, and undermine democracy.” Others may shrink from telling the president, but I step forward. Dr. President, when sections of the media are excluded from a presidential press conference within days of the second inaugural and its inspiring words in which I trusted, then the quickest, most potent underminer of democracy is the face staring from the president’s mirror. I am troubled. A departure from a commitment given before a national audience. I still hope that this exclusion is not the start of things to follow. The optimist inside still has the upper hand and, again, it is based on what Pres. Ali said. Listen, read, absorb, fellow Guyanese, as I take this to another level.

“To those who did not support me, know this: I am your president, too. Your hopes and worries belong at the centre of our work, and the respect due to you will not depend on how you voted.

“The respect due to you will not depend”, not hinge, on the actions of those who stood against. Noble words. Noblemen stand by their words freely articulated. If yeomen do so, then noblemen must. Pres. Ali knows that, needs no reminder from me.

It’s time to leave this forlorn affair, this tragic renewal, behind. My parting comments are based exclusively on the words of President Ali: “To foster deeper and more lasting national unity, I will operationalise the One Guyana Commission with particular emphasis on public infrastructure, cultural development and national integration”.

To my peasant mind, “One Guyana” and “national integration” mean not one is excluded, no matter how offensive they may be found; none is made an example of, regardless of the intensity of disagreements. If in my defective manner of thinking, if in my irreversible standard of inclusion that legitimate Venezuelans must be woven inseparably into the fabric of One Guyana, then not one Guyanese should be outside of the promised magnificence of its expansive arc. To Pres. Ali I say quietly: do not let the second inaugural address be like the first: talking for the sake of talking, representing absolutely nothing. Not air. Not gas. Not any substance known to man.