Irfaan Ali


Mohamed Irfaan Ali is a Guyanese politician, Member of Parliament and a former Minister of Housing in Guyana. Ali is the Presidential Candidate for the People's Progressive Party/Civic in the 2 March 2020 Guyanese general elections.

Early life and education

Ali was born to a Muslim Indo-Guyanese family in Leonora, a village in the West Coast Demarara region of Guyana. The child of two educators and one of two sons, Ali also spent much of his formative years on the island of Leguan. He is a past 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.

Professional career

Ali served as Project Manager of the Caribbean Development Bank's Project Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Finance and Senior Planner in the State Planning Secretariat.

Political career

Ali became a member of the National Assembly 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 and Prime Minister on separate occasions. In 2015, the People's Progressive Party/Civic went into opposition during which time he served as chair of the Public Accounts Committee and co-chair the Economic Services Committee of the Parliament of Guyana.

Presidential candidacy

Irfaan Ali was the Presidential Candidate of the People's Progressive Party for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections in Guyana. Most political parties and international observers believe that Ali was the victor and should be declared President, but the incumbent Administration has refused to accept defeat as of 15 June 2020.
He was selected as the presidential candidate for the People's Progressive Party/Civic on January 19, 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. 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 about two decades ago, when Ali was in his early 20s, he had mis-represented one of his qualifications.
In the 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 emphasised 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 committed to establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund protected against political interference, and to strengthen Guyana's ability to uphold the Santiago Principles and the global requirements of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.