Dear Editor,
RECENTLY, several quarters of various social media platforms featured snippets of what appeared to be a birthday celebration to honour His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, who attained the age of 44 years on April 25.
Surely, the Head-of-State, who stopped BBC journalist Stephen Sakur from disseminating a manipulated narrative, and lectured the HARDtalk host to avoid a misrepresentation of the facts, deserves a festive interlude from managing one of, if not the world’s fastest growing economy.
For the occasion, the Baridi Benab at the official residence of the First Family was embellished with colours which weave a tapestry reminiscent of struggle and sovereignty: Red, green and gold/yellow.
The ornamentation issued statements of identity, and echoed enlightened counsel, and the festivity overall embodied the ethos of unity and harmony with a reggae theme permeating throughout. “One Love”, redolent of “One Guyana”, featured prominently.
The shared media presented a perception of Ali’s personality, similarly did the content from his recent engagements in New York, where he donned a “One Love” cap and weaved his way into the hearts of a diaspora constituency often characterized as sympathetic towards the People’s National Congress and its creatures, bridging Brooklyn.
And while the Opposition’s dread tangled with their sentiments spewing rancour resulted in a call for a boycott of businesses owned by persons they hope to one day represent, President Ali locked in his commitment to resisting oppression.
Reflecting on His Excellency’s philosophy, the “One Love” theme is seemly apt. Indisputably, his customary plea to foster unity resonates with the sentiment “let’s get together and feel alright.”
I am reminded of when Bob Marley joined the hands of Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and his political rival, Edward Seaga in the early morning hours of April 23, 1978 at the Kingston National Stadium during the “One Love” Peace Concert which followed Marley’s return to his native land after almost two years of self-imposed exile.
This was Marley’s first performance in Jamaica since he left the island after the failed assassination attempt on his life late in the evening of December 3, 1976, when seven gunmen burst into his Hope Road home and shot Marley, his wife Rita, and their manager Don Taylor during a tumultuous period of the West Indian territory when the post-colonial nation’s air was thick with political turmoil.
In our Co-operative Republic, smeared with the casualties of the battleground of political ideologies, President Ali’s positive vibrations reminds that the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship and rule of international morality is not merely a fleeting illusion. Albeit the gospel remains that “there is no hiding place from the Father of creation” the question stands “is there a place for the hopeless sinner who has hurt all mankind to save his own beliefs?” One Love, Mr. President.
Sincerely,
Richard Bhainie
