Last Updated on Sunday, 12 July 2026, 14:08 by Writer
Amid ongoing controversy stemming from President Irfaan Ali’s technologically-driven farm on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, the opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is proposing that the law be amended for the Integrity Commission to release summaries of the assets of the President and his ministers among others.
“The proposed amendment is intended to strengthen transparency, accountability and public confidence in public office by ensuring that prescribed information relating to the statutory declarations of the country’s principal elected and executive office holders is made publicly available while preserving the confidentiality of information not required to be disclosed,” APNU parliamentary leader Dr Terrence Campbell told Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs in a letter accompanying the Bill.
The intention is for the summaries to be published in the Official Gazette.
Dr Campbell suggested that those who refuse to support the draft bill risked being perceived as opaque.
“I want the public to know that anybody who does not support this generally, there might be some changes that they may require, but anybody in Parliament, any parliamentarian, any party that does not support this, has something to hide,” he said in a statement.
Dr Campbell, who noted that Jamaica’s Integrity Commission releases a summary of the asset declarations by the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, is proposing that Guyana’s Integrity Commission be legally empowered to release summaries of the asset filings for parliamentary secretaries, permanent secretaries, commissioners of land, surveys, geology and mines, forestry, the commissioner of police, the deputy commissioner of police, chairmen, managing directors of government agencies, government corporations, mayors and deputy mayors.
Should the National Assembly not meet to consider his proposed amendment to the Integrity Act, the APNU parliamentary leader recommended that the president and the leaders of all the parliamentary parties, as an example to Guyana, immediately release the 2025 declarations. “I want to say that I, Terrence Campbell, stand ready to release my entire declaration come Monday morning, once such an agreement can be forged,” he said.
Dr Campbell also said he was unaware of the Integrity Commission investigating the assets based on submissions.
He said he was aware that Dr Ali had a farm but never knew it was 150 acres.
Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has claimed that that is the size of the president’s farm at Long Creek, but the latter only said it is less than 75 acres without producing the exact figure.
There is no independent or documented confirmation so far.
The president has also not given into demands for him to release financial records of his business.
Instead, he said he has financed his farm through bank loans and that the Integrity Commission has all his declarations.
Dr Ali maintains that he has not used his office as president to secure special favors or treatment for his farm which includes poultry and livestock.
