Mohamed Irfaan Ali (born 25 April 1980) is a Guyanese politician who has served as the tenth and current

president of Guyana The president of Guyana is the head of state and the head of government of Guyana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Republic, according to the Constitution of Guyana. The president is also the chancellor of the Or ...

since 2020. He is the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

to hold the office, along with being the second Muslim head of state in the

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after

Noor Hassanali Noor Mohamed Hassanali (; 13 August 1918 – 25 August 2006) was the second president of Trinidad and Tobago (1987–1997). A retired high-court judge, Hassanali was the first person of Indian descent along with being the first Muslim to hold the ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. Ali was a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) and the minister of housing before becoming the presidential candidate of the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in the March 2020 general election. He was sworn in as

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

's tenth president on 2 August 2020, after months of legal challenges regarding the integrity of the election and even a consequential recount of all ballots.

Early life and education

Ali was born to an

Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...

family in Leonora, a village in the West Coast Demarara region of

. The child of two educators and one of two sons, Ali also spent many of his formative years on the island of Leguan. He is a former student of the Leonora Nursery and Primary schools and Cornelia Ida Primary. Ali completed his secondary education at St. Stanislaus College in Georgetown, Guyana. He holds a doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

Professional career

Ali served as project manager of the

Caribbean Development Bank The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is a financial institution that helps Caribbean nations finance social and economic programs in its member countries. CDB was established by an Agreement signed on October 18, 1969, in Kingston, Jamaica, and ent ...

's Project Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Finance and senior planner in the State Planning Secretariat.

Early political career

Ali became a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

of Guyana in 2006. He was subsequently appointed to the portfolios of minister of housing and water and minister of tourism industry and commerce. During his tenure as minister, Ali performed the functions of

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

on separate occasions. In 2015, the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) went into opposition during which time he served as chair of the Public Accounts Committee and co-chair of the Economic Services Committee of the

parliament of Guyana The National Assembly is one of the two components of the Parliament of Guyana. Under Article 51 of the Constitution of Guyana, the Parliament of Guyana consists of the President and the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 65 members el ...

Presidency

Candidacy

Irfaan Ali was the presidential candidate of the People's Progressive Party (PPP/C) for the 2 March 2020 general and regional elections in Guyana. He was selected as the

presidential candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

for the People's Progressive Party/Civic on 19 January 2019. His selection came at a time after Ali had been charged with 19 counts of conspiracy and fraud by Guyana's Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU). Ali's lawyers questioned the legality of these charges, and claimed that they were political in nature and "trumped up". At the time when Ali was running for president, the charges had never been brought to a full court hearing. Immediately following his selection, Ali was accused of academic fraud, with opponents claiming that when Ali was in his early 20s, he had misrepresented one of his qualifications. Ali was also indicted on 19 charges of other fraud for allegedly defrauding the state of over $174M between the period 2011 and 2015, allegedly conspiring with persons unknown to "greatly undersell" 19 plots of state lands at Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting in

Demerara-Mahaica Demerara-Mahaica (Region 4) is a region of Guyana, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the region of Mahaica-Berbice to the east, the region of Upper Demerara-Berbice to the south and the region of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara to the ...

to current or former government officials. The trial on the matters was postponed several times. He was granted self bail on the charges. The lands, which were sold for $39.8M, are valued at $212.4M, according to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU). On 14 August, the charges were dismissed.

Campaign

In his campaign for the presidency, Ali ran on a mainly economic platform, citing declining growth and increased joblessness under the Granger administration. Ali committed to creating 50,000 new jobs over five years. He has emphasized the need for transparency and adherence to globally-recognised standards of governance for Guyana's nascent oil sector, which is expected to transform Guyana's development. Ali is committed to establishing a

sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such ...

protected against political interference, and to strengthen Guyana's ability to uphold the

Santiago Principles The Santiago Principles or formally the Sovereign Wealth Funds: Generally Accepted Principles and Practices (GAPP) are designed as a common global set of 24 voluntary guidelines that assign best practices for the operations of Sovereign Wealth Fund ...

and the global requirements of the

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources. It seeks to address the key governance issues in the extractive sectors. The EITI Standard requires informa ...

Foreign policy

United States

In September 2020, in a joint statement with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

secretary of state

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

, Ali said the two countries would begin joint maritime patrols aimed at drug interdiction near Guyana's disputed border with crisis-stricken Venezuela.Joint Guyana-US maritime, air patrols could begin as early as Monday
September 18 2020. ''Stabroek News''. Retrieved September 19 2020. The agreement came as U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, as part of a consortium with Hess Corp, ramped up crude output from Guyana's massive offshore Stabroek block, a large portion of which is in waters claimed by Venezuela. Pompeo and Ali added that "greater security, greater capacity to understand your border space, what's happening inside your Exclusive Economic Zone - those are all things that give Guyana sovereignty."US, Guyana to Launch Joint Maritime Patrols Near Venezuela
18 September 2020. ''MarineLink''. Retrieved 19 September 2020.

Notes

References

External links

Office of the President of Guyana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Irfaan 1980 births Living people Presidents of Guyana Government ministers of Guyana Guyanese politicians of Indian descent People from Essequibo Islands-West Demerara University of the West Indies alumni People's Progressive Party (Guyana) politicians Guyanese Muslims Socialist rulers Muslim socialists