Aug 24, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – Those visits by Pres. Ali into places of worship may be paying off. He sees the light. He may insist that he sees god (meaning himself); I settle for light. Light is late in coming. Its speed slowed down by GPL wires and thick political darkness. But light has arrived in Guyana and it struck Pres. Ali first. Opposition and civil society could participate in the national procurement process, part of the oversight mechanism. Now lightning has struck me. Really? After a half decade of PPP cronies and family members ripping off billions from the treasury and reaming Guyanese taxpayers, it may be time for the Opposition and civil society to be involved. Not in the ‘teefin’, but in the new PPP stop the stealing campaign.

Pres. Ali wouldn’t be Pres. Ali if he didn’t see an opportunity to showcase his cute side. Adorable he is not. The national procurement setup has multi-stakeholder presences with little involvement by the government. If the president is going to crack a joke, it should be one that makes Guyanese laff. His multi-stakeholder plot fell flat. Hence, I beg to differ with him. Take a look fellow Guyanese, almost all of those so-called multi-stakeholder presences in the national procurement system are either beholden to the PPP Govt, or proxies for it. When they are in procurement programmes, the government has many seats at the table. There is no need for a minister, or PPP flunkies. Such would give away the storyline. The evaluators are largely PPP loyalists or PPP indentured and indebted. Which one was going to go against the tide of corruption?