Dear Editor,
TOMORROW we choose the political party to lead our country for the next five years, but even more importantly, we choose the leader of that party to be our President. What are those choices?
We will be choosing between Dr. Irfaan Mohammed Ali, Mr. Aubrey Norton and Mr. Azruddin Mohammed. The other presidential candidates are not to be taken seriously, and we should not waste our votes on any one of them.
Aubrey Norton, Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Peoples National Congress was appointed General Secretary of the PNCR but was then fired by President Desmond Hoyte and was subsequently expelled from the party Executive and lost his seat in the National Assembly. Then in 2014 he was defeated for the leadership of the party by David Granger.
In 2020, Joseph Harmon, then the leader of the Opposition, made Norton the Executive Director of his office. The Nation is familiar with the blatant attempt to rig the elections at that time and under those leaders. Neither Norton nor any of the leadership of the PNCR have ever apologised.
Norton was eventually installed as leader of the PNCR from 2021 and replaced Nicolette Henry in the National Assembly when she resigned and became Opposition Leader after the resignation of Joseph Harmon.
Norton had the audacity to question the legitimacy of the results of the 2020 elections, electing the PPP/C under the leadership of Dr. Ali, and, we all remember his behaviour in refusing to shake hands with the President.
So much for the hardly distinguished political career of the PNC/R Presidential candidate, which leads us to Azruddin Mohammed, sanctioned by the US government, accused of gross criminal enterprise and currently before our courts for other criminal activity.
Mohamed Irfaan Ali presents a stark contrast to his opponents. From the time of his election, he has served our country with considerable distinction and has been hugely honoured as a global leader internationally, more so than any President of Guyana.
For instance, in January 2023, President Ali received THE PRAVASI BHARATIYA SAMMAN AWARD (PBSA) in India for his outstanding contribution to politics, community and welfare and was conferred an Honourary Doctor of Philosophy and Management Studies from his alma mater, the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi. Also in 2023, Doctor Ali received the Global Inspirational Leadership Award for his leadership and advocacy of developing nations, while he was attending UNGA, hosted by the International Forum on African-Caribbean Leadership.
Later, in 2023, Dr. Ali’s leadership in agricultural and food security earned him and Guyana, as our President, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation (IICA) award and, later, in the same year, while attending Barbados’ 57th Independence Day celebration, he was awarded that country’s highest national award, in recognition for his outstanding contribution to regional integration.
Then, in January 2024, President Ali was conferred with the Global African Leadership Award in Ghana, at a Presidential Gala dinner. In April, he received the Legacy Award Class from the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies 27th Annual Awards Gala for his leadership and vision. In September, while in London, Dr. Ali, ahead of several regional leaders, received the People’s Choice as a Caribbean Global Leader 2024: Caribbean Global Award, and, rounding off that year, the President received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service 2024, for his unwavering dedication for climate change action and bio-diversity.
Most recently, our President was honoured with the University of California Berkley’s Global Leadership Award for innovative and motivational leadership.
Dr. Ali has not merely earned these awards for himself; he has earned them for Guyana and its place in the world today. Beyond the awards and the ceremonies however, there is a tangible and recognisable difference which our President’s leadership of our country, has made to the lives of ordinary Guyanese.
Like no other President, President Ali has personally reached out across the country, advancing his vision of “One Guyana”, challenging and overcoming the ethnic division of our politics which has haunted us before and since Independence. As the President, he has shown himself to be, not merely a politician and Head of State, but a leader who listens to his people, who cares and above all who acts in their interest.
So, tomorrow, when as citizens of our country, we make the choice for our future, by electing Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, we can continue our country moving forward, progressing our development, under the leadership of a President who has not only earned the respect of the International Community , but who has demonstrated that he is the only right, fit and proper presidential candidate to become our next President in the next chapter of our history.