THERE appears to be an observable coordinated shift in focus from the usual constant attacks on the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, to now President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
Of recent, some of the most outlandish, shallow, baseless, and ludicrous criticisms of the President surfaced in certain sections of the media.
In particular, an anonymous columnist/column took issue with President Ali’s address at the opening of the 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Governments CARICOM. The author expressed his/her disappointment because he/she was expecting the usual diplomatic styled rhetoric. The mystery author then characterised the President’s delivery as “theatrics”.
Contrary to the anonymous author’s opinionated column, President Ali is an authentic, dynamic, and highly respected leader regionally and globally.
The anonymous author is perhaps too accustomed to the usual fluffs and rosy speeches by most leaders. In fact, the recently concluded energy conference had a few such like “fluffs and rosy” styled speeches, that were not necessarily grounded in reality and pragmatism, and actionable.
To put it nicely, the academic types of speeches. This is not President Ali’s style. President Ali is action oriented, results driven, and more importantly he is a realist and pragmatist. This is demonstrated in his consistent scholastic deliveries that are always robust and profoundly passionate; not theatrical.
The mystery author then went on to argue that the President outlined unrealistic targets to be achieved by 2030 and that he failed to set out the road map.
However, if the author had really paid attention, the President did set out the framework through which those targets can be achieved. More so, he outlined actionable items for immediate implementation.
Furthermore, that was not the forum to lay out a road map. The forum for that is the working sessions that followed.
It is quite unfortunate that the many critics of government do not even have the capacity to perform a proper critique, a critique that is robust, constructive, and meaningful, together with an alternative menu of solutions, and the pros and cons of each.
As a society, there is a great need to improve the quality of discussions, criticisms and debate we advance on issues of national importance.