SOMEONE from the West Indies, in the near or far future is going to come on the scene and replace the aura that is found in Brian Lara.
Someone in the near or far future will land on the scene in India and better Sachin Tendulkar’s record. Someone in the near or distant future will arrive in Bollywood and achieve greater excellence than Shah Rukh Khan.
I could go on with hundreds of examples but the point is taken – history moves on relentlessly and it has the potential to produce more in-depth greatness that currently exists.
For all the phenomenal hit music of the Beatles, Elvis Priestly and Michael Jackson in the United States and the current stardom in the US of Taylor Swift, a new artiste who goes by the entertainment name, Shaboozey, sang a song, “The Bar Song” last year (2024) that has lasted the longest (nine weeks) on the American Billboard Hot 100 as number one.

That song still amazes me as to how it achieved that feat. It is simply a mediocre song that is a poor attempt at mixing country and western and mainstream pop.
Here in Guyana, as I have repeated several times on this page, I don’t think Guyana knew the leadership potential of Irfaan Ali. One must remember that Shane Warne and Brian Lara were dropped by Australia and the West Indies respectively. Look at the huge greatness of those two cricketers today.
It takes a situation for a human to unleash his/her potential. We knew Ali as Minister of Housing but he did not emerge as the most scintillating Cabinet Minister back then. In 2020 Ali became head of government and head of state and he decided he was going to be both an innovative and transformational president.

Of course, the Guyana Government is not perfect. Of course, the Guyana Government makes mistakes. But like him or not, criticise him for what you believe are wrong directions, you cannot fault Irfaan Ali for being a different president that makes people think and believe that the receptacle of power does not exist in an ivory tower, and that they can approach the lounge of power and relate what they want from it.
I never wrote what I am about to write and knowing Dr. Ali I don’t think he will be irked by what I am about to put down in black and white here. It was our first meeting shortly after he became president. I offered my reason for declining to serve with the strong emphasis that younger people need to be given the opportunities to contribute.

We sat on different sofas opposite each other. He has that uncanny thing about him that makes you trust him and like him. It was like Burnham and Jagan. You sit down with them and you leave the dialogue simply being philosophically and ideologically attractive to both of them. It is the same with Ali.
I looked across to him and said to him that, in the coming years of his presidency, he must take the presidency to the people. I am at liberty to describe what I told him not what he said to me. But Ali has become a mesmerising element in the exercise of state power.
It is still Burnham and Jagan that are up there in the history books. Of course both men do not belong to the same category. Jagan was a gigantic, peaceful soul. Burnham was a phenomenal visionary that drank too much of the brew that Macbeth’s witches had in the pot. But in the history books to date, it is still Burnham and Jagan on the front cover. It is still Jagan and Burnham that people bring up when they discuss Guyana’s history. Walter Rodney sits neatly in third place.

I believe Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali when he leaves power in 2030, will be in front of Jagan, Burnham and Rodney. The making of a great legacy is being formed. Whether you like him or not, the evidence is compelling that Burnham in power, Jagan in power, and the big names in the post-Independent CARICOM region has not produced a style that is inviting as Dr. Ali.
They say sometimes the runner stumbles, I hope Dr. Ali doesn’t and I believe the way he is going he will not stumble so the legacy will be complete. All eyes will be on him in 2025 around November when the election results are known. By what margin will he achieve victory? How large will his victory be? I guess we have to wait and see.

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.