I HAVE been writing columns for 36 years now. First, the Stabroek News, then the Catholic Standard, then the Guyana Chronicle, then the Kaieteur News. And I have returned to the Chronicle. In those years, I have done thousands of mental, historical, sociological, and philosophical reflections.

My repertoire includes political and psychological portraits of people in this country that I thought I should write on. The list includes the recently departed Ramon Gaskin. In the 90s, I was a columnist with the Stabroek News, and on November 11, 1993, I did a comparative analysis of Gaskin and Philomena Sahoye-Shury, AKA, Fireball, a top women leader in the PPP.
That was 31 years ago. My assessment of Gaskin at that time was negative, and it was positive for Shury. I will do a complete column on Gaskin shortly, and I will remind those who think they know Gaskin that I have known him since I was 18 years old and wrote about him 31 years ago. But for now, let’s look at GHK Lall.

I think it is quite acceptable as a columnist to say he/she liked and disliked a person once temperate language is used. I never liked GHK Lall when he first came on the scene, because I sensed this was a publicity-seeker. Mr. Lall, an American resident or a citizen, for whatever reason returned to Guyana after spending most of his life in the US. And it is my thinking that he was looking to be somebody in Guyana.

So he started off by seeking space in the media. He became a columnist with the Stabroek News, and he made himself a spectacle by using words that no one in Guyana knew what he was talking about. I remember a judge met me in the National Park and asked me why Kaieteur News has GHK Lall writing editorials, because no one understands what he writes.
Shortly after becoming a Stabroek News writer, Lall’s publicity lust drove him in my direction. He sensed that if he attacks me, he would get into the limelight. And he did. He wrote that he knows the three businessmen that built my home for me. The Stabroek News penned an editorial note demanding I come clean.

My wife never ever reacts to political things, but on this occasion she was annoyed. We exhausted every cent we saved, and this political non-entity could publicly announce that businessmen built my home for me. I was never full of gold the way GHK Lall was when he became chairman of the Gold Board, and I was never given the opportunity to have any amount of gold much less the amount Lall presided over.

I sensed Lall’s obsession with the PPP was because it closed down his gold mine when it came back to power in 2020. The nature of my work compels me to read everything that is written in the realm of political economy, sociology and international relations. But I do not read GHK Lall. I find him a completely unacceptable person that is shallow, and an intellectual non-entity (no apologies whatsoever).

Time after time, I would get emails from people urging me to reply to what Lall has written, because they say people need to hear from me. I haven’t got even an infinitesimal urge to read Lall, because I am revolted at what the man is. But I read Dr. Randy Persaud, Adviser to the President.

And I read where Randy describes Lall as being xenophobic after Lall furiously hurled crass and demeaning insults at foreign workers in Guyana. When I read what Randy wrote, my revulsion got deeper. This is a man who has spent most of his life in another country, and returned to Guyana where he wrote that he collects senior citizen pension. Is he entitled to it? If he does, then so be it. But does he want it, considering his tenure as chairman of the Gold Board?

So I got this email from a minister of government informing me that GHK Lall is cussing down Vice-President Jagdeo because it was said on an Online newscast that Lall was in receipt of money. So I went and read the item. I couldn’t understand what Lall was fuming about.

His side-kick, Glen Lall announced that Bharrat Jagdeo is giving me millions to support the PPP. But that wasn’t the part of GHK Lall’s column that upset me. He deceived Guyanese when he wrote that a person can criticise the American Government like he does, and yet get a visa. He does not need a visa; he has American residency. Finally, someone should ask GHK Lall, AKA “Goldman”, if he thinks Glen Lall has the moral authority to criticise the government.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.