THE recent state visit by His Excellency President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana showcased Guyana’s new-found importance in the world. Added to this, what was also on full display is the embryonic phase of the new geopolitics of Guyana’s ascension to being an oil and gas nation. Make no mistake, we are now firmly on the world stage. Be that as it may, this visit triggered introspection and kicked off a Guyanese conversation that will go to the heart and soul of this nation. The leadership demonstrated by His Excellency President David Arthur Granger during this visit has put to this consideration to citizens of Guyana: are we really going to the polls to choose between Mohammed Irfaan Ali and the level of gravitas and leadership that is reposed in the President?

The Trial
Once elections are called, the campaign will begin, there will be unrivaled electioneering, the likes of which may have never been seen before. Understandably so, it will be the first election pre-first oil. In my estimation, it will all be ungirded by a nation on trial. The country will face a clear cross-examination: are we going to elect integrity, grit, statesmanship and continue the trajectory of a law-and-order society or we will express a desire to hark back to the dark and lawless times of ethnopolitics? If the latter is successful at the polls, such a verdict will be a sad pellucid admission that we do not possess the propensity to elect leaders based on the content of their character. It would be a tribal verdict, the likes of which would set us back a few decades.

Unprecedented Candidacy
Without prejudice to the other political parties, this will undoubtedly be a contest between the two Presidential candidates of two of Guyana’s largest parties. On a prima facie level, when the resumes and public records of Mohammed Irfaan Ali and His Excellency David Arthur Granger are juxtaposed, it ought to be an immediate slam-dunk case where the former Brigadier wins hands down. However, Guyana can be an electoral twilight zone at times. Make no mistakes, in the history of Guyana election candidates, I don’t believe the Guyanese have ever been subjected to this level of paucity of quality of leadership from a candidate at the polls. This is compounded by the fact that it is clear the selection of this candidate is the classic Putin/Medvedev puppet arrangement. The evidence will be laid bare for the court of history to cast final judgment on this nation. It is arguably the clearest case election we will face.

It is an opportune time to reflect on the sage words of Mahatma Gandhi ‘The nation’s culture resides in the heart and in the soul of its people’. The Guyanese masses have never been asses, you cannot foist a weak candidate on the nation in an attempt to create a puppet President. It simply cannot work, the soul of the nation goes on trial at the next national elections.