Political trust ‘cannot be bullied’, must be earned – Pres Ali

– reiterates race-baiting, divisive politics will not succeed

Earning the trust of people to lead a modern society must be done through adherence to laws and proper value systems. It does not work by bullyism, President Irfaan Ali has underscored.
The Head of State shared these sentiments in a video message wherein he called out the Parliamentary Opposition, the A Partnership for National Unit (APNU), in their attempts in 2020 to “rig the elections” and subsequent actions to gain trust from the population.
“One cannot be bullied into trust; you have to earn trust. You cannot bully your way into gaining the trust of people. You cannot wish away your attempts to rig the elections by acknowledging ‘we are sorry and we’ve made a mistake…’ For us to build a society that moves into a modern era, we have to build trust, but that trust cannot be bullied. Trust has to come with certain values and certain elements. Political trust incorporates justice and adherence to democratic laws,” Ali posited.
He expressed worry over the conduct of some persons to build trust and bridge existing divides in the country, and expressed his condemnation of such approaches. “Many people today talk about building trust, bridging the divide, and helping to advance our country, but there are some truths that we cannot escape. If you look at how some people approach this whole issue, it is worrying. There’s some who believe we should succumb and accept it, and ‘attempt to steal the votes of people, and that would have been just’,” he said.
“They’re trying to erase that guilt, and they believe that it somehow reflects our moral and ethical compass to say ‘we want to create social harmony’ and ‘we want a united society, and that could have only come about through rigged elections…’ That is not the way you build a modern society and a democratic society,” the Guyanese Leader added.
Building a country on the pedestal of human rights and justice, he added, contradicts actions to commit electoral fraud. “It doesn’t work that way. If you’re talking about building and enhancing this trust and creating an environment in which we have political trust, we have to first of all fix this. We have to fix what took place in 2020. That does not say we cannot work on enhancing trust; we have to do that, but when the players try to demonstrate values that are not supported by their own behaviour, then you ask the question,” Ali underlined.
According to the President, weaponising race and ethnicity has no place in modern Guyana. A leader who has been on the ground in all communities since he took office in August 2020, Ali plans on continuing such efforts to build a united country.
“This has no place in modern Guyana. That is why I am going to work with the people directly. I am going to take my message directly to the people. I am going to the communities and embracing their problems and finding solutions with them, enhancing trust at the community level. We’re not going to allow the intellectual authors of this divisive, race-baiting politics to succeed.”
It was pointed out that through collaborative efforts and the mindset that everyone is equal, communities can achieve many goals and be built stronger. “I am not going to sit by and allow the historical narrative to return, to use it, to weaponise it. It has no place in modern Guyana. It has no place in our communities. So, we’re going to build communities stronger, working with each other, cement the gains of democracy by bringing people together,” the President vocalised.
He identified that Government has no disparity in its investments in agriculture, social services, education, infrastructure, and other areas which will benefit the lives of citizens. (G-12)