Latest update November 7th, 2024 1:00 AM
Oct 08, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column
Kaieteur News- Every Guyanese should be left in open-mouthed awe at the incredible achievement(s) of President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali. Though some darkness still clings stubbornly to him, he is emerging from the shadows. New book, believe it or not. And all by himself. What a guy! What a character and leader! What a writer and righter of all that is wrong not only in Guyana but in the region, too. Are there some early whispers for the highest recognition of all: the Nobel Prize for Literature? If Israel’s Menachem Begin (a lethal terrorist) could have won the Nobel Peace Prize with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat in 1978, then the odds are overwhelming that Guyana’s Irfaan Ali could do the same in Literature in 2025. The smart money is on him.
The smarter money is placed on a horse that goes by the name of Questions. The Office of the Presidency does have its uses, its stable of groomers and spongers, some as old as the time when Burnham was king of the hill. So, too, UG is known for its skill in attracting thoroughbred foreign researchers and a complete toolkit of skills necessary to push and polish a finished product. The mystery is how much is push, and how much is polish. The president, however, must be congratulated for reaping the payoff. His name is on the cover, and his vision is that his title and his telling of a wonderful tale will now be etched into immortality. The least that observers should expect is that the children of hungry Guyanese would be able to partake of what could become mandatory reading about food security. It follows that old tradition, the practice of poor people all over the world: they always want better for their children. Though the parents know what it is to be hungry, their offspring, at least, get to absorb the textbook vitamins and minerals that are so essential in food security.
Clearly President Ali’s choice of topic (and title) delivers with a powerful melody. What could be of more timeliness than a book about food security? Will somebody please lend a hand to a dummy? Timeliness has so much that could be said about it, where His Excellency is concerned. Is the president an overachiever or what? Do Guyanese have a superstar for the ages on their hands and not have a clue about his presence? Where does President Ali find the time? How much does this say about how well he manages his time? Has Guyana’s uber president bent time to obey his will? As all Guyanese should know, including the naysayers and so-called scholars tied to the civil and political opposition, the president has so much on his hands. Yet he could have spared one hand and a few fingers to type away relentlessly and skillfully at a keyboard and deliver a book that is the stuff of genius.
President Ali is forever winging his way from foreign capital to foreign capital. First class aviation accommodations do allow the space and serenity to coin a fulsome phrase or two while cruising at 35,000 feet. It is a new way to beat jetlag and avoid the dehydration that comes from partaking too much in the spirits that roam so freely and are poured so generously at such altitudes. The superman Guyana leader could have had the presence of mind to pen a word of a few more when leading his caravans to all parts of Guyana, some by air, some by trail, and some by foot. Ali is such a champion writer that he must be commended for writing while walking at full speed over both hilly and potholed terrain. Talk about ferocious concentration, and Mohamed Irfaan Ali is the man. The thought flashes that the head of state had the brilliant idea to write a book when he started writing orders for more birth certificates and land titles to be written for those Guyanese getting nowhere with obtaining such good stuff. How he wrote his book, and the story is not hallway through yet, while so fully immersed in all these matters both routine and of a more complex nature is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
What could be more complex than standing at the head of people responsible for managing Guyana’s greatest national resource patrimony, its grand oil bonanza? Forget all this partisan nonsense about de facto and de jure president. President Ali is the main man, isn’t he? And that is no jive talking, folks. Oil is on the brain, and the oil is already a pain, and Excellency Ali stretches his 24-hour clock to spin his yarn. Mohamed Irfaan Ali must be given his toga and tunic: he is the best. Oil is well on its way to becoming a curse on Guyana’s leaders, but President Ali digs into unknown wells and discover a continuous burst of energy to write a book about food security. This is the divine grace that was the exclusive due of European kings, but now seized by a Third World president for his advantage by Guyana’s Irfaan Ali. This confirms that familiar adage: the pen is mightier than the sword. It depends in whose hand wields it. Simply astonishing, never fails to produce uncertainties.
(Say that again- a superstar for a president)
This confirms that familiar adage: the pen is mightier than the sword. It depends in whose hand wields it. Simply astonishing, never fails to produce uncertainties. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
Nov 07, 2024
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