I BEGIN this article by appealing to future presidents of Guyana and future prime ministers of CARICOM nations to secure their post-government future by investing while they hold office. There is only one moral indiscretion if, while serving as head of government, you utilise state assets to help your business.

John Compton, while Prime Minister of St. Lucia had a banana farm that he managed while being in office. Jimmy Carter secured the American presidency while being a rich farmer, and the farm continued in operation while Carter was president.

Silvia Burlosconi was a media tycoon and owned one of the major football clubs in Italy while he was Prime Minister of Italy. Several American presidents had businesses that made money while they held office.

The political theory that prime ministers and presidents cannot have successful companies while they are heads of government is a discredited concept that cannot be successfully argued. What is not acceptable is if the head of government infuses his/her business with state funds.

So far, no one has come up with evidence of President Ali using state funds. But when Dr Ali produces his papers to show legitimate investments will that deter the vulture flying over a 70-acre farm?

Let’s provide some samples of vultured politics over a mere 70-acre farm. Here is what Christopher Ram wrote yesterday (Friday): “Mr. President, if you have nothing to hide, will you today announce an independent Commission of Inquiry with full powers to examine every aspect of this enterprise, and to publish its findings?”

Is this the politics of comicality or asininity or both? President Ali has a modest farm. A discredited Opposition Leader fictionalises the scope of the farm and embellished the video shots he took of the farm. Because of that, the president must now treat his farm as a matter of national urgency and install a commission of inquiry into his private commercial entity.

Can someone explain to me what evidence exists for Guyana to have a commission of inquiry into the president’s farm? Is it just like that a head of government belittles himself by having a commission of inquiry into his farm?

Here is GHK Lall: “Land ahoy! There’s a sheepfold. Followed by a cow palace. A rich field for fowls. Then, a shrimp lake. One could get lost in a daze. For those are only a glimpse of what grazes in Guyana’s President Ali’s grand garden.”

And who is writing this? A man who once headed the Guyana Gold Board and had to interface with Azruddin Mohamed.

This gold board man told Guyanese that he never saw the name Azruddin Mohamed mentioned in any document about gold export skullduggery but his boss at the time, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman told the nation that Mohamed’s name in fact was on the documents sent to the Gold Board.

What does this tell you about GHK Lall? One question it raises, among others, is what was the relationship between Lall and Mohamed when Lall was the man overseeing gold exports? And Mohamed is facing court action in the US over humongous gold exports from Guyana into the US that the US says were illegal. Of course, it should come as no surprise that Lall is supporting his Mohamed’s comic book saga.

What are friends for! But there should be an independent inquiry into the operations of the Gold Board during Lall’s tenure? Finally, can Lall say how much he has invested in Demerara Waves and where the money came from?

Kiskadees are not vultured birds but some in Guyana are. The kiskadees are flying over the President’s 70-acre farm for three consecutive days. Here is the latest song the kiskadees have sung: “While insisting that the property has never been hidden, the President did not provide documents or other records to support that assertion during his address.”

Again, I ask is this comicality of stupidity or both? The President addressing the nation about his modest farm, behaves not as the head of the leading CARICOM nation, not as the elected president of Guyana but as a frightened public servant with documents in his hands detailing for the satisfaction of the vultures flying over, his farm his business details.

The problem in Guyana and the problem Guyana will continue to have is there is a school of intense anti-government haters that are not interested in anything except the instinct to weaken the government. In common parlance, there is the use of the word, “papel” meaning paper. Even if the president produces “papel” about the investments in his farm, the vultures will still fly over the farm.

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.