-calls on President to resign
The opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) yesterday called for the immediate resignation of President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, arguing that fresh public scrutiny of the President’s Long Creek farm has revived questions arising from an investigation conducted more than a decade ago.
In a statement, the opposition said the issues surrounding the property were “not new” and referred to an investigation carried out in 2015 by the then State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU), which it said examined allegations of corruption and misuse of public office relating to what it described as the “Irfaan Ali Long Creek Farm.”
President Ali has not responded to many allegations made about the farm or to calls for the release of documentation.
According to the PNCR/APNU, investigators established that the land had been leased to a “Mohammed Ali,” but the national identification card presented in relation to the lease belonged to the President’s father rather than Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
The party further alleged that site visits uncovered several Spanish-speaking foreign nationals employed on the property and that the farm was engaged in poultry production and the rearing of cattle imported from Suriname. It said that the animals formed part of an agricultural exchange programme between the governments of Guyana and Suriname prior to the APNU+AFC administration taking office in 2015.
According to the PNCR/APNU, investigators completed reports on the Long Creek probe believing that their findings would form part of broader fraud charges under consideration.
“Tragically, as events have since demonstrated, that was not the case. The investigation into the Long Creek farm was conspicuously excluded,” the statement said.
The opposition said investigators had recommended that the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission repossess the lands because of alleged breaches of the lease and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission Act.
While acknowledging that the Constitution grants immunity from prosecution to a sitting President, the PNCR/APNU argued that such protection “must never be construed as immunity from accountability, transparency, or moral responsibility.”
“In any functioning democracy worthy of its name, when allegations of this gravity surface—allegations involving the potential misuse of public office, questionable land leases, and the presence of foreign workers on a farm linked to the Head of State—it is an accepted democratic norm that those named voluntarily step aside to allow for a full, fair, and impartial investigation to proceed,” the statement said.
It added that such a move “is not an admission of guilt; rather, it is a demonstration of respect for the institutions of state and the confidence of the citizenry.”
The PNCR/APNU accused the PPP/C administration of choosing “concealment” over transparency and said it was calling on Guyanese “regardless of political affiliation, ethnicity, or creed” to support three demands: the immediate resignation of both the President and Vice President; what it described as “an acceptable, transparent investigation” by impartial investigators; and the restoration of democratic accountability.
“The Guyanese people deserve leadership they can trust. They deserve leaders who place the integrity of the Office above personal ambition. They deserve a government that answers to the people, not one that hides from them,” the statement added.
The controversy began after Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed released a video questioning the scale and financing of the President’s agricultural operations. Mohamed estimated that the property encompassed approximately 150 acres and represented an investment exceeding $2.2 billion, arguing that the development could not have been financed from the President’s declared salary.
President Ali subsequently rejected those estimates, saying the farm comprises between 60 and 70 acres and was financed through what he described as a “huge loan” from the banking system. He also said the property had been declared to the Integrity Commission but has not publicly released documentation relating to the acquisition of the land, financing arrangements or the value of the investment.
The issue has since prompted APNU Member of Parliament Terrence Campbell to put together a private member’s bill that would require the Integrity Commission to publish summary declarations filed by holders of specified public offices, including the President.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran has also called for greater disclosure, questioning how the property expanded beyond two leases totalling approximately 20 acres that were approved in 2011 and urging the Integrity Commission to scrutinise declarations rather than merely receive them.
Former EPA Executive Director Vincent Adams, the Guyana Trades Union Congress, the Alliance For Change, We Invest in Nationhood, former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson and attorney-at-law Christopher Ram have also called for greater transparency or independent investigations into aspects of the development.
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