Ali’s says he has been farming for 10 years

Last Updated on Friday, 25 September 2026, 11:39 by Written By Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali Thursday night said he has been farming for a decade now, as he sought to make out a case to United States-based Guyanese that investing in Guyana’s agriculture sector is worthwhile.

“The reality is, I’m a farmer; not now, not yesterday, not last month, not a year ago. Ten years ago,” he told Guyanese at a town hall meeting in Queens, New York.

The size of his farm had become a major talking point more than one month ago when his former close friend and brother of the Islamic community, Azruddin Mohamed, had alleged in July, 2026 that President Ali’s farm on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. The President disputed the size, saying it was 60 acres but Google Earth Pro measurements of the forest-cleared area estimate the size at 114.81 acres.

The President had also said that all his assets were declared to the Integrity Commission and that he had taken loans and reinvested revenues into the farm that includes cattle, fish, sheep, fruits and vegetables.

Without naming Mr Mohamed, who is leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party and Guyana’s Opposition Leader, the President justified punishment of his friends if they committed crimes. “You can be my best friend but if you do the crime, you have to do the time,” he said. He questioned how the Guyana government could be blamed for requesting the extradition or imposing sanctions on someone.

The younger Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, were in June 2024 sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for alleged evasion of more than US$50 million in taxes payable to the Guyana government on the smuggling of more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold. The Mohameds are currently engaged in a legal battle to avoid being extradited to the US to face trial in a Florida federal court for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering documented in an 11-count Grand Jury indictment.

Since the extradition request, the Mohameds have said publicly that they had helped to finance the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) while in opposition from 2015 to 2020 and had been long-time supporters of that party going back to the 1990s.  The younger Mohamed had also boasted of providing armed security and bullet proof vehicles to Dr Irfaan Ali up to around the period he was sworn in as Guyana’s president in 2020. The duo were also seen in pictures after the swearing ceremony at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

However, the President reiterated in New York that financing of the PPP was no basis for turning a blind eye to alleged crimes. “There are some people from the time they can’t get their way, we bad….They believe they give the party some donation for election. You own the party, and you do whatever you want. and it can’t happen with the People’s Progressive Party,” he said