President Irfaan Ali yesterday gave no date for his promised live presentation from his Long Creek farm and again declined to disclose its precise acreage, acquisition cost, total investment or financing arrangements.
Questioned at a press conference about when the promised tour would be facilitated, Ali said he would broadcast from the farm “at the appropriate time”.
“I said I would go live from the farm,” he said. “I have nothing to hide.”
The President initially repeated his earlier position that the property was “not even half” of the approximately 150 acres alleged by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed. Later in the press conference, however, he referred to “the 60-plus acres of farm” and said he would provide the exact figure.
Ali said the farm had existed since 2012 and that his first loan was obtained around that year.
“I have took loans, documented, and also submitted to the Integrity Commission,” he said.
He did not identify the lending institutions, disclose the number or value of the loans, say whether they remain outstanding or provide documents supporting his account.
Ali maintained that the farm, its financing and his liabilities had been declared to the Integrity Commission in keeping with his statutory obligations. Those declarations are not ordinarily available for public inspection, making his assertion impossible for the public to independently verify.
The President also said private sector leaders had visited the property, but did not identify them or explain how their visits answered questions about its ownership, financing and regulatory approvals.
Pressed for the investment structure and the period over which the farm was developed, Ali did not provide the requested details.
Instead, he accused the journalist of having a motive for repeating Mohamed’s allegation that the property comprised about 150 acres.
“But of course, you would love to repeat the headline and the allegation, because you have a motive,” he said.
Ali contended that Mohamed had falsified information and said the discrepancy over the acreage undermined the credibility of the allegations.
The President then turned to Mohamed’s own legal difficulties, pointing to his indictment in the United States and making other allegations against him.
Allegations
The controversy erupted last month after Mohamed released a 23-minute video questioning the ownership, scale and financing of the agricultural operation near St Cuthbert’s Mission, also known as Long Creek.
Mohamed estimated that the farm extended over approximately 150 acres and represented an investment exceeding $2.2 billion. His estimates covered land development, an access road, electrical infrastructure, buildings, machinery, livestock and poultry facilities.
Those figures were Mohamed’s estimates and have not been independently verified.
Ali subsequently rejected both the acreage and valuation, saying the farm was financed through a “huge loan” from the banking system and that he had received no special treatment or state investment.
“My farm is not a discovery. It is public information… a farm that I have built and can account for every single investment in that farm,” Ali said in his earlier response.
He also declared: “You can check with all of the established entities… and you would see that the farm has been in existence.”
At that time, Ali said the property was less than half the acreage claimed and promised: “I will go live from the farm.”
Yesterday he repeated that promise but did not say when it would be fulfilled.
It was earlier reported that Ali has not publicly released land leases or titles, loan agreements, mortgage documents, acquisition records, development costs or evidence of planning and environmental approvals.
Opposition parties, Transparency International Guyana, the Guyana Trades Union Congress, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran and former Environmental Protection Agency Executive Director Dr Vincent Adams have called for disclosure or an independent investigation.
Kiskadee Watch reported that Goolsarran questioned how the farm expanded beyond two leases totalling approximately 20 acres which were reportedly approved in 2011.
Former EPA head Adams has said that a substantial expansion of a livestock operation would ordinarily require the environmental approval process to be revisited. The EPA and Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission did not provide Kiskadee Watch with answers to its questions about the property.
Ali yesterday maintained that there was a wider attempt to portray him and his administration as corrupt. He advised persons who believed they had been defamed on social media to use the courts.
He also complained about the credibility given to allegations made by persons facing criminal proceedings and referred to an unrelated interview whose subject subsequently issued an apology.
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