OPINION: PPP gov’t and media: Pres. Ali pronounced, he must produce

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 September 2025, 8:48 by Writer

By GHK Lall

To “reset” is to restart. To “reset” is to make a genuine effort to rebalance. To “reset” is to revisit. And to reconcile and reinvigorate. There will be those who differ from my dictionary. I accept. But I do not think that President Ali would have any insurmountable difficulty in appreciating my interpretations, my translations. But even if he did, and in the recognition that presidents do operate at rarified altitudes, he shouldn’t have any struggle to recall what he put before Guyanese on Sunday, September 7, 2025: “We recognize and respect the essential watchdog role of the media…” Heartfelt thanks, Excellency Ali.

This is what the France-based Reporters without Borders (RSF) reminded the president of, and called on the president to honor. It is not Stabroek News, Kaieteur News, or Demerara Waves that’s calling on the president. It is a foreign agency, a distant entity, a watching body. What they see and hear going on in Guyana relative to the PPP Government and the media is troubling. Media houses singled out and trashed. Journalists isolated and punished. I am not a professional journalist, merely a contributor in the public space, and demonization and criminalization have been heaped on my head. On President Ali’s head and in Vice President Jagdeo’s hands, I have placed those sordid realities. As RSF urged, the president must take the lead and “reset.”

Reset the mind. Reset the approach. Reset the standards. If the government has no sterling standards of communication and interaction with the media, and others who inhabit it, then citizens could be prompted to a still lower standard in dealing with their fellow citizens. When leaders worship at the altar of abuse and revilement, then it says something, could be the norm that is imitated. When the government practices what is hostile in its relationship with professionals and free-thinking citizens, then it is a small miracle that such official hostility has not provoked more hostility, incited what is dangerous. When the government of the moment engages in the scurrilous, the vitriolic, and the abominable, it is left for ordinary citizens to pick up the fragments and hold the line for some modicum of standards, of what is honorable to the name Guyana. A disturbing day, indeed, I would assert.

But all is not lost. I repeat Pres. Ali’s intonation from his second inaugural address on Sunday, Sept 7th: “We recognize and respect the essential watchdog role of the media…” An opening, a small window that could be expanded and lead to a mutually beneficial season. One graced by courtesy. One alive with simple decency, a thorough commitment to honesty and transparency. It would be to President Ali’s credit that he manifests that he is not about talking for the sake of talking. But more, much more, that should now come to light as I dissect those 11 words of his. “We recognize and respect” is a beautiful sound. It must be lived. Recognize goes to the heart of the vital existence of the media in a free society. Surely, Excellency Ali wouldn’t want Guyana to be seen otherwise, be it in France or as far away as Fiji! Once there is recognition, then let it function on its own engine, flourish through the straight road made possible. If there is one thing that Pres. Ali knows, it must be roads.”

“We respect” means that there’s room, there’s appreciation, for the media in its multi-faceted duties, difficult calling, and that every effort will be committed to, accordingly. And, then there were those three words — simple, yet soaring and searing — embedded in the president’s pronouncement: “essential watchdog role.” Essential means that the media is a mandatory presence in the highlights of Guyana. And when the lights are low, that presence must not diminish, but rise to the occasion. Watchdog incorporates the vigilant; the sniffing, pursuing, digging, and raising of the alarm. As a leader with a doctorate, this has to be a, b, c, to Pres. Ali. For what utility is a watchdog, Dr. President, if it is asleep at the hour of testing? Oftentimes, as I am certain that the president is aware that watchdogs can bark so much that even their owners are a tad on the restless side. ‘Dis damm dawg! Be quiet! Fact of life. But also, a necessity that cannot be done without, and which even in its loudest, longest spell must be cherished for doing its job. As it knows how. As is instinctive. As is in keeping with its role. It is the role that President Ali himself assured “we recognize and respect.”

In this second term, President Irfaan Ali has a golden opportunity to right many wrongs. Reset. History will attest to the authenticity and potency of his leadership efforts, standards. Produce or perish.