– G.H.K. Lall warns against “craven opportunist pretending to be born-again reformist”

AS Guyanese prepare to head to the polls on March 2, 2020, notable figures such as General Manager of the Guyana Gold Board, Gabriel Lall have come out in support of the coalition government as the best option for Guyana.

In a recent Letter to the Editor, Lall said of all the parties contesting General and Regional Elections, he has reserved his ‘X’ for the David Granger-led Administration as it has “in its leader, what is required” to keep Guyana on the right track. On the other hand, Lall said that the leadership ranks of coalition’s largest adversary, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), “has zero credibility” and are being led by a “craven opportunist pretending at being a born-again reformist”.

Lall held back little as he made the public statement which he said is meant for all whether or not they share his views. He made it clear that his choice has nothing to do with oil; the manifestos of political parties; the influence of ‘race voting’; which political party has won the verbal debate or which has the most ‘experts’ on its side.

He said that his decision was made based on thorough consideration of who he ought to trust and in whom he has enough confidence to cast his vote. “When these are sifted and sorted through, these are the objectives of my thinking: which leader holds the keys to the way forward? A peaceable, positive, upbuilding way that is suffused with an inclusive, diverse future? Which one of them surges ahead and why?” Lall reasoned.

The General Manager said that he had his eyes set on a leadership which has what it takes “deeply and genuinely within” to be more and do more for what is good and needed in the country. “It is about which group, through its leader, is of the contemplations and visions that are of citizen and country, all of them and all of it respectively. And here is the crux: and intends (repeat: intends) to fulfill. It is less of the group and more of the man at the head. The one with the caliber and calling to view citizens and country not only as votes for self-empowering and self-enriching; but to see both as a sacred trust to be handled and cared for in the best traditions of prudence and an all-encompassing wisdom,” Lall said, adding:

“I do not think, I am unable to perceive, that the opposition possesses any such leadership elements. I am of the view that the sitting government—warts and all, weaknesses and all, and woes and all—does have in its leader, what is required.”

Lall who is a Guyanese author, columnist and former Financial Analyst on Wall Street also analysed the make-up of the PPP/C and why he would not cast his vote for the party.
He said that while one might want to argue that the leadership of the Opposition has “better management or political skills”, if truth and character is missing, “all the grand plans wither and die on the vine, because they hold only tainted, poisoned promise.”
PPP/C Presidential candidate, Irfaan Ali is currently facing the courts for 19 fraud charges for allegedly defrauding the State of over $174M.

Added to this, he is now being pressured by the public to make public his qualifications ahead of E-Day as his documents show that he was not a holder of a first degree prior to undertaking this master’s in 2002.

Ali, along with PPP/C Leader and General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, have remained tight-lipped on the matter brushing it aside on several occasions.
Yet, in January, 2019, when Ali was selected as PPP/C’s Presidential Candidate, grassroots supporters called for him to step down contending that his ‘baggage’ will ‘sink’ the party’s chances of winning the upcoming elections.

Many in the public are of the opinion that Ali is merely a means through which Jagdeo, former two-term president of Guyana, can gain a ‘foot in the door’.

Though the General Secretary has denied same, it is easily observed that the former president takes the lead by hosting weekly press conferences from which Ali is excluded; by being the highlight on campaign posters and at political rallies and by taking the lead in party’s responses to the media on all occasions.

“The last thing that this country needs now is a craven opportunist pretending at being a born-again reformist, though remaining an incorrigible recidivist,” Lall stated.
“Pardon me, but I do not believe anything that seeks to portray honesty and integrity, as such originates from the Opposition; its leadership ranks have zero credibility.”

He reiterated in his letter that his position on same has nothing to do with “political savvy and glorious manifestoes” and what he sees as good leadership, for him, remains non-negotiable.

“I believe that the coalition intends to deliver on some — some — of the promises made by its leader. If I am wrong about the man, then this society is doomed. I take this stand for the man (hence my “X”) because I sense that the man himself stands for something different, comrades notwithstanding, lack of flair and fury and fullness of self notwithstanding. I detect that he stands for God and family and country; and if a man does not have those things, then for what does he exist? Unlike opponents, and rather ironically, the man from the PNC does not have the dark ambitions, the incomparable viciousness and vindictiveness present elsewhere,” Lall said.

“At the end of it all, matters condense to this: who do I believe? Who do I think could deliver in the heats of things to come? I say Mr. Granger.”