I KNEW Mohamed Irfaan Ali when we sat on the Council of the University. At that time I was a critic of the PPP government but Ali never let that prevented a slow, developing camaraderie between us. Ali back then was a very modest, friendly man who was instantly likeable. From those days, it was impossible for someone who knew him not to like him.
From 2020, when he became president, I have been writing about him. As he settled down in power, Ali became a phenomenon. He was simply a different kind of politician, the likes you hardly see in the world. As it is my job to study our politicians, I assessed Ali as the years went on.
The past two years, I have compared Ali with scores of Guyanese, regional and global heads of government, and my analysis led me to believe that Ali would leave a huge legacy in Guyana and the Caribbean. I believe Ali is the most people-orientated president Guyana has produced and has a pull that I have never seen in other presidents.
I have written a sizeable amount of columns on him, so jokingly I said to him as I got up to leave his official residence yesterday (Wednesday) that maybe he should compile them in book form. I requested to see him because since the farm controversy broke out, I have stood by him because I believe in him. When Azruddin Mohamed shouted out that the President has a megafarm with extraordinary facilities, I didn’t believe Mohamed then and I don’t believe him now.
I wanted to sit with the President and have his side of the story. I wanted his side of the story to be made public because my limitless experience of Guyana told me Mohamed was lying. I met with President Ali at State House yesterday morning. As he came downstairs, he looked dapper in an immaculate White shirt-jac with formal black business trousers. His jet-black pair of shoes reminds me of when I was young.
President Ali had a medium sized brown envelope in one hand and a white coffee mug in the other. He asked me to sit, and as he put down his mug, I could see that unlike me for my entire life, he drinks his coffee with milk. He took out a number of documents and before he showed them to me, he said; “Freddie, look at this grave injustice done to me.”
I felt sorry for him when he said those words because you do not like to hear those words coming from someone you know is fundamentally a good human.

President Ali showed me the financial documents about the functionalism of his farm. I saw documents pertaining to three huge loans. One large loan in 2012, another similar-sized loan in 2015 and a mega loan in 2023. That 2023 loan should cover the basic operating facilities of the farm.
I saw authentic documents from one of Guyana’s leading banks that is graphic evidence that the president borrowed from the commercial banks for his farm. I was shown the original valuation of the farm which is 62 acres. I wrote several columns referring to the farm as 70. It is 62 acres. The president showed me all documents pertaining to the farm contract with GPL. And he named the private contractor he employed to do his road work.
I looked at all the documents the president showed me and I was shaking with anger. This man has been ridiculed over his private business for which he has genuine financial documents. For the record, President Ali’s farm was financed by two large loans and a very massive loan. That kind of money he took from a bank and not from anywhere else.
President Ali has a modest farm for which his finances have been accounted for. It would be below his presidency to disclose publicly his documents because no head of government does that because a few vultures want to see it. No president or prime minister should besmirch their office by publishing their private business arrangements. That is no one’s business.
The reasoning is that, after all, he is the president. But what does the presidency have to do with the man’s private business? He is entitled to his privacy. Why should he show the public the name of the bank through which the loans were facilitated? Those are confidential matters between bank and customer. Yesterday (Wednesday) I had seen enough, and it taught me one lesson about politics – ignore your insane detractors and get on with the administration of the country for which you were elected. This man is owed an apology.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.