President says his election as a minority is a sign of Guyana’s growth

Last Updated on Saturday, 27 January 2024, 15:30 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali, on receiving the Global Africa Leadership Award in Ghana, identified himself  as a minority who has risen to become the leader of his country.

“Today, I’m proud to lead a country where the people elected a minority. I’m from the minority religion of Islam and the people of that country elected me as their president. That is how we have grown,” he told the Africa Prosperity Champions Awards and Presidential Gala Dinner.

Muslims make up just over 7 percent of Guyana’s population, with  64 percent Christian and 25 percent Hindu.

Dr Ali informed guests that he comes from a “very small country” with six ethnic groups and which had been divided by ‘external forces” for their own selfish interests by exploiting ethnicity.

Around the 1950s-1960s, the United States and Britain-Guyana’s former colonial power- had conspired to create racial and political divisions mainly between Afro and Indo Guyanese to prevent Guyana from being granted independence under socialist Dr Cheddi Jagan.

At home, former Prime Minister Hamilton Green and 10 African organisations have called Dr Ali a “racist” who should have been deemed ineligible for the award and it should have been rescinded. They cited several instances of alleged discrimination against Afro-Guyanese who make up about 30 percent of Guyana’s population. But the Guyanese leader has since fired back, calling them “racist” and denying claims oif racial discrimination.

The President told numerous African Heads of State and business leaders that he accepted the Global Africa Leader Award at a time when Guyanese were working very hard to emancipate themselves from mental slavery and create “one system, one country, one environment in which all the people must prosper. “I accept this on behalf of the people of Guyana,” he said of the award.

Executive Chairman, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko the Ghana-headquartered Africa Prosperity Network (APN) picked President, Dr Irfaan Ali to receive the Global Africa Leadership Award “in recognition of the strong and transformational leadership you are giving to the good people of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, since your election as Head of State in 2020. In particular, your commitment to building a ‘One Guyana’, by emphasizing the need for unity, inclusivity and shared prosperity in Guyana’s multiracial society is highly commendable.

According to the APN Executive Chairman,  Dr Ali was also chosen for the award because of how he navigated the recent peak of border tensions between Guyana and neighbouring Venezuela. “The award is also in recognition of the strong and principled leadership you have shown during this period of heightened territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo region,” the APN official said in the letter.