GEORGETOWN, Guyana – In a rambling and defensive social media address, President Irfaan Ali launched a scathing attack on Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, but his words have triggered more alarm than reassurance. While attempting to discredit the man he has labeled a criminal, the President inadvertently exposed a government under siege, alluding to “security implications,” recordings, and attempted blackmail .

The President’s speech—ostensibly meant to clarify the existence of his farm—quickly devolved into a series of ad hominem attacks against Mr. Mohamed, whom he accused of murder, smuggling, and kidnapping. Yet, the irony of a sitting President calling Mr. Mohamed a criminal is not lost on the Guyanese public, who are acutely aware that the U.S. sanctions against Mohamed are not the “discovery” the President claims; they are a matter of public record .

President Ali’s attempt to distance himself from Mr. Mohamed by emphasizing that sanctions came from the U.S., and not from his government, rings hollow. The President conveniently forgets that the PPP government and Azruddin Mohamed were once bedfellows. A man who is now denounced as the “nature of criminality” was once a major funder and backer of the PPP. The questions that the President fails to answer are the ones that truly matter: