Irfaan Ali: The Charisma of Competence

As the PPPC officially kicked off their campaign for the March 2nd elections at Kitty Market Square, Guyana had the opportunity to listen directly to their Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali. He outlined his vision for Guyana, which he will realise as leader of the next government. As he has emphasised in the past, the programme his government will execute is embodied in the PPPC’s Manifesto. But we know that in all human undertakings, especially political ones, the style and commitment of the leader will inevitably influence the achievement of the articulated goals. It is called “political will”.
If the PPP/C wins, Ali will become the second youngest President of the Republic of Guyana at the age of 39, following Bharrat Jagdeo. There has been, of recent in Guyana, a clamour for “youth” in leadership, which is clearly a reaction against the gerontocracy that was sedulously created by the septuagenarian David Granger.
“Youth” suggests energy and a mind that has not become ossified and backward- looking. This is vitally needed at this particular juncture, because of the serendipitous world class oil discovery, which will finally give us the wherewithal to create the El Dorado we were told existed in Guyana.
But in spite of his relative youth, Irfaan Ali has extensive organisational experience, which will be vital to deal with the welter of institutions — businesses, governmental and non-governmental — that will be flocking our shores. He has played a leadership role in the youth arm of the PPP — the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) — for almost two decades now, and in the Party’s leadership for almost 15 years.
Besides presently serving in the Party’s Central and Executive Committees, Irfaan Ali has served for almost a decade as the Party’s Finance Secretary. His involvement in political leadership has therefore not been trivial, and has been in major roles. He has also been in leadership at the regional level and, since 2011, in both General and Regional Elections (four successive elections), has led his Region Three to provide the biggest percentage of PPP wins.
Crucially, he has served as minister, starting at the age of 28. Irfaan Ali’s Ministries were major ones – Housing and Water, Trade and Industry and Tourism. For most of his ministerial service, Irfaan Ali has controlled these two ministries simultaneously. It was a major responsibility that the PPP — through its Presidents, Jagdeo and Ramotar — had placed on a very young man; and he did not disappoint them. He did not disappoint the PPP, and he certainly did not disappoint the people; he served his country with distinction in these two portfolios.
In his period as Minister of Housing, he led the establishment of more housing schemes in Guyana for any five-year period in the country’s history, and distributed more house lots, particularly to low-income and middle-income families, than any other Housing Minister in our history. As Minister of Water, he led Guyana to almost universal access to potable water, and Guyana gained United Nations’ recognition for this achievement.
Under his tenure as Trade Minister, there was major business development and creation of several industrial parks. As Minister of Tourism, he led the drive to make tourism a major pillar of the growing and diversified economy. But Irfaan Ali distinguished himself not only as a competent and dynamic Minister of Government, he was also a dynamic legislator. He became a major spokesman in Parliament for the Government’s economic trajectory and the macro-economic and financial stability policies and actions of the then PPP Government.
After 2015, he assumed the role of shadow finance minister for the PPP, and in that capacity, he exposed the weakness of the APNU/AFC regime and their mismanagement of the economy. Ali has also been the Chair of the PAC, and in that capacity, has led the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in one of its most active periods of financial scrutiny in our parliamentary history.
Irfaan Ali has demonstrated the charisma of competence, and is ready to lead Guyana to greatness.