OPINION: Pres. Ali: new PPP master distractor, deflector over a brooch

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 April 2026, 18:08 by Writer

By GHK Lall

My thinking was that Irfaan Ali, Guyana’s PhD president needed urgent help to make better use of his time. Searching for, locating, and dealing with the best people would assist him to prioritize, leave a lasting impression, eventually. I prefer being wrong; a president is involved. He jumped out, proved me right. About time mismanagement. A brooch, Dr. President? Is somebody kidding? Of all the matters crying for immediate attention, a brooch worn by America’s Venezuelan presidential plant with Essequibo ingrained, is what sends Excellency Ali off, drives him to get in the face of CARICOM leaders? Knock me down, let me stay down there, please. It’s better to be at the bottom than have to deal with this type of, ah (er), genius now so popular in modern Guyana. Worth saying again, however painful: new PhDs lack past profoundness.

Former Venezuelan caudillo, Nicolo Maduro Doro, repeatedly called Guyana’s Irfaan Ali an imperialist stooge, and his PPP Govt an American puppet. Shades of the PPP’s newest, closest friends, the Red Chinese. Neither he nor anybody in the PPP could generate a halfway hearty riposte. But Irfaan Ali is up the wall and going to the mat on some brooch. Of course, it is the symbolism, the bold-faced testing of the waters in the Venezuelan leader’s appalling audacity and arrogance. Aside: unless Americans put her up to that, so they can rush to Guyana’s side, emphasize the special friendship between the US and Guyana. America controls Guyana, dangles its leaders on a string. America suspends Venezuelan leaders by their neckties, and they still delight in sticking their tongues at GT and the PPP.

Now Pres Ali is on fire and he runs to some CARICOM leaders with sharp protests to convey his displeasure. He, a president, was labeled “insolent” by the now jailed one-time Venezuelan badman. And what did Excellency Ali do? He settled for silence as his trusted companion. Clearly, there is some difficulty within PPP Govt camps in figuring out how to keep Pres. Ali focused, and maximizing returns from his scarce time. It was he himself who said in his first year, that he’s a busy man, with a million matters managed all at once. But he is so sharp-eyed, and brilliantly advised, that he zeroes in on a brooch and makes a big stink about it.

Venezuelan agents violate borders, shoot Guyanese soldiers, sack local communities, haul away spoils. The best that PPP Govt headmen have to offer is soft words, softer sticks, and the softest footsteps. But a miniscule, miserable, and maggot-like brooch is made into this monstrous apparition and existential concern. Is this PPP Govt a comedy or an effigy? When I first read of Senora Delcy Rodriguez’s daring foreign adventure, while armed with a brooch, my reaction was if that is how she gets an adrenalin rush, then the gracious lady is best given wide berth, left to her antics. Civilized Guyanese know that’s exactly how one responds on encountering certain citizens on the street. People talking to themselves. People dressed in gaudy costumes, with bizarre ornaments completing intriguing dress codes.

Because I know how PPP leadership thinks, Dr. Ali’s firefight over a fly is taking a sledgehammer to a snail. Much ado about the rambunctious and frivolous. At bottom, it is the PPP Govt’s (and leadership’s) patented pattern of deflection. Distracting from the ruff stuff, covering up the tuff stuff. Like that US$2 billion gas project bacchanal. Pres Ali has studiously avoided addressing the gaping exposés in that energy masquerade, and in Delcy Rodriguez’s brooch he found the perfect distraction for gullible Guyanese. Recall the four-step recovery program developed by the PPP. Distort first. When that fails, deflect. Should that drop dead, then deny. And when all of those fall apart, then seek and destroy the messengers. Ali sealed his lips on the US$2 billion bag of tricks. Delcy Rodriguez’s brooch pulled his lips apart.