Dear Editor,
President Ali was assigned by CARICOM in 2022 to lead the regional effort to reduce the Community’s food import bill by 25% by 2025. That target was not achieved, and CARICOM has since shifted the horizon to 2030.
Earlier this year, in the first budget of his Ali’s second term, the Minister in the Office of the President announced the permanent removal of corporation tax on income from agriculture and agro-processing. No one can accuse our enterprising President of failing to embrace the region’s agricultural ambitions. If anything, he appears to have taken the assignment, shall we say, a bit too personally.
Indeed, while the rest of CARICOM struggled to reduce the region’s food import bill, our President was apparently busy reducing his own dependence on an extravagant presidential salary. He was quietly – very quietly – diversifying both the economy and, it would seem, his own income base. So quietly, in fact, that it took a lifelong friend and party financier, Azruddin Mohammed, to reveal the scale of the enterprise.
The achievements are impressive. Import substitution through herds of Blackbelly sheep from Barbados and halaal cattle from Brazil; eradication of the contraband import of chickens replaced by fattened birds from the Presidential Hatchery; bringing some 150 acres of idle land into productive use; and demonstrating that, in agriculture as elsewhere, some animals are more equal than others.
This is surely a case study waiting to be written. The University of Guyana’s School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation could hardly ask for a better illustration of entrepreneurial achievement. The finance faculty might even consider a companion course: Building a Multi-Billion-Dollar Enterprise While Holding One of the Most Demanding Public Offices in the Country.
President Ali often speaks of making Guyana “world-class.” On that score, he may already have succeeded. It is no ordinary feat to lead CARICOM’s campaign to expand regional agriculture while simultaneously finding the time, energy and business acumen to develop what has become the country’s most talked-about private agricultural enterprise.
This is no small feat. In Fact, Ali has now won for Guyana its first ever gold medal in multitasking an equivalent of Trump’s Peace Prize.
As he waves proudly to his friends, family and favourites before ascending the podium, here comes the crème de la crème of the Guyana press to ask our dearly beloved president to reflect on his incredible achievements in such a short time, on a fixed salary that is so low that Parliament decided to make it tax-free.
As the applause dies away and the President prepares to mount the podium, the Guyana press corps edges forward.
“Congratulations, Mr. President. Before you celebrate your remarkable achievements, the Guyanese people would like you to help them understand just how you did it.
Mr. President, we understand that you acquired twenty acres of land during the Jagdeo presidency. Under whose administration did you acquire the remaining 130 acres which together comprise your agricultural enterprise, and what process was followed in making them available to you?
Were all the environmental approvals obtained before development commenced, and will you publish every permit issued in respect of the project?
Can you assure Guyanese that no Government agency gave your enterprise any treatment that would not have been available to any other farmer?
Your government has permanently removed corporation tax on agriculture and agro-processing. Given your own substantial interests in that sector, did you declare that interest and absent yourself from any discussions leading to that decision?
What is the estimated tax benefit that your enterprise will enjoy because of that measure, and do you accept that many Guyanese will regard the timing as, at the very least, remarkably convenient?
Your explanation is that the project was financed by bank loans. Will you authorise the publication of the loan agreements so that the public can judge the matter for itself?
Will you also publish the financial statements of the enterprise, together with evidence that all taxes, NIS contributions and other statutory obligations have been fully discharged?
Mr. President, you have repeatedly asked Guyanese to trust you. Given the controversies that have followed you throughout your public career, do you accept that many citizens believe trust now requires independent verification rather than personal assurances?
Finally, Mr. President, if you have nothing to hide, will you today announce an independent Commission of Inquiry with full powers to examine every aspect of this enterprise, and to publish its findings?
Thank you, Mr. President. Enjoy your medal, and the vast opportunities of fortune and fame from your thankful and appreciative countrypeople.