MOST Guyanese might know an overbearing uncle who behaves much like the flawed Mohun Biswas in V.S. Naipaul’s classic novel “A House for Mr. Biswas”. I don’t know Christopher Ram personally, but based on his missives, he strikes me as a person who mirrors Mr. Biswas.

A darling of Stabroek and Kaieteur newspapers, Ram has been relentless in his attacks against President Irfaan Ali. Like Mr. Biswas, he apparently has a problem with everything and everyone, especially those in the PPP/C. Nothing the president or this government does is ever good enough for Ram. He is cynical, an incessant complainer, and so vitiated that he resorts to being petty, conceited, and prone to making erratic and baseless claims.

Like Mr. Biswas, Ram appears to harbour grandiose ambitions. He has latched onto the notion that a Guyana Petroleum Commission is the panacea to all that he believes is wrong with the country’s oil sector. In pressing for its creation, he seems to be auditioning to lead it. I also suspect he believes no one but he is fit for the role.

Ram is not a journalist, but that doesn’t stop him from trying desperately to be accorded the respect deserving of one. I am baffled that whenever his diatribe is published in one paper, another amplifies his pitiful message like an echo chamber in an amateur horror movie. Glenn Lall loves him, and Anand Persaud idolises him. And so does that other poor excuse for a commentator, GHK Lall.

Ram’s attack on President Irfaan Ali in his columns comes across as if he were scolding an annoying neighbour. Strangely, he began a recent column stating that the “presidency is the most sacred office in our Republic”, and then proceeded to disparage it in a manner that is disrespectful and dishonest. Yet when the majority of Guyanese look at the office of the presidency, they see someone who has been in the position for five years, and who embodies the loftiest traits among a rabble of contenders.
The president comes out often enough and addresses the press, and yet Ram labels him “evasive” and “manipulative”. Just last week, President Ali walked right into a huddle of reporters. He didn’t run and hide after commissioning the St. George’s School of Science. He knew what the questions would be long before Svetlana Marshall had her morning coffee.

Had he wished, he could have avoided the scrum altogether. They bombarded him with questions about allegations regarding personal tweets on X by two US politicians. When the president began to respond, he was cut off, repeatedly. As a reporter with over three decades of experience, I know that if I were to ask a question of any elected politician, much less a head of state, I would be a fool to interrupt. In Ram’s worldview, President Ali should cower and apologise to the press.

Ram faults the president for being loyal to his party, his family and friends. Yet when the majority of people look at this president, they see a leader who is loyal to the people of Guyana. The president didn’t distribute the cash grants to his friends in Leonora only. Every adult Guyanese over 18 received it. Did anyone have to show a PPP/C party card to receive the “Because We Care” or the “Newborn” cash grants?

Was the president “engaged in partisanship over national unity” when, in a single day a week ago, he visited eight communities in Regions Two and Three? In every village in which he touched down, from Hubu to Vreed-en-Hoop, the president was like Santa Claus in the middle of our rainy season. From investing in crab production to announcing plans for a modern port at Parika to regularising land for some of the poorest folks in Vreed-en-Hoop, President Ali demonstrated why he is the only candidate worthy of a second term.

Ram pulls out the stops in his insults of the president when he gets to the 2016 PSA. He accuses the president of hiding “behind the sanctity of contract”, and of “grovelling to his new masters”. Ram, you are a chartered accountant; stick to your lane. You are the one who goes grovelling, hand and bowl, for auditing contracts and other assignments, and that’s an established fact.

Between 2021 and 2023, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Guyana surged, reaching US$16.1 billion. Guyana is the sixth-largest recipient of incoming FDI in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

By the way, Ram, that US$16.1 billion in FDI, well, it’s three times that of APNU+AFC in their entire five-year term. If I were an investor with wads of cash in my pocket, I would prefer a country led by President Ali over a crew that bungled the contract in the first place, or worse, one that would shred agreements the moment they take office.

Ram’s tirades say more about him than they do about President Ali. Like Naipaul’s Mr. Biswas, Ram craves significance, but finds comfort only in his bitter words. Meanwhile, Guyana is building and thriving, while Ram is stuck in his own angst, waving his fists from the sidelines, hoping someone will mistake his noise for wisdom.

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.