Mohamed Irfaan Ali | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ali in 2025 | |
| 10thPresident of Guyana | |
| Assumed office 2 August 2020 | |
| Vice President | Bharrat Jagdeo |
| Prime Minister(also First Vice President) | Mark Phillips |
| Preceded by | David A. Granger |
| Minister of Housing and Water | |
| In office 7 January 2009 – 20 May 2015 | |
| President | Bharrat Jagdeo Donald Ramotar |
| Prime Minister | Sam Hinds |
| Preceded by | Harrinarine Nawbatt |
| Succeeded by | Ronald Bulkaan[a] |
| Chairman of theCaribbean Community | |
| In office 1 January 2024 – 30 June 2024[2] | |
| Preceded by | Roosevelt Skerrit |
| Succeeded by | Dickon Mitchell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1980-04-25)25 April 1980 (age 45) |
| Political party | People's Progressive Party/Civic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | St. Stanislaus College |
| Alma mater |
|
| Awards | Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (2023) |
Mohamed Irfaan Ali (born 25 April 1980) is a Guyanese politician serving as the tenth and currentpresident of Guyana since 2020. A member of thePeople's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), he previously served as the minister of Housing and Water from 2009 to 2015. He is the firstMuslim to hold office, and is the second Muslim head of state in theAmericas afterNoor Hassanali ofTrinidad and Tobago.[4][5]
Ali was amember of parliament (MP)[6] and served as a cabinet minister underDonald Ramotar until 2015. In 2020, he became the presidential candidate for thePeople's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). He won theMarch 2020 general election. He was sworn in asGuyana's tenth president on 2 August 2020, months after his win, due to extensive legal challenges regarding the integrity of the election and a recount of all electoral ballots.[7]He won re-election to a second term as president in thegeneral election held on 1 September 2025.[8]
Mohamed Irfaan Ali was born on 25 April 1980[9] into anIndo-GuyaneseMuslim family to Bibi Shariman Neshaw and Mohamed Osman Ali inLeonora, a village in theWest Coast Demerara region ofGuyana. The child of two educators and one of two sons, Ali also spent many of his formative years on the island ofLeguan.
His maternal great-great-great grandparents were Ujiari and Bujhawan who were from Basi village, Telogepurthana inBasti jela in present-dayUttar Pradesh, India. Ali is descended from them through their son Dildar. Dildar, Ujiari, and her four other children and a daughter-in-law immigrated to thenBritish Guiana asindentured laborers in 1894 aboard the shipRhine. They were indentured to Plantation Success in Leguan.[10]
He is a former student of the Leonora Nursery and Primary schools and Cornelia Ida Primary. Ali completed his secondary education atSt. Stanislaus College inGeorgetown, Guyana.[11][12]
Ali holds a doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from theUniversity of the West Indies.[11] In 2003, he completed his master's degree in Human Resource Planning Development from the National Institute of Labour Economics, affiliated with theGuru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi. In 2023, the university awarded him an Honorary Doctorate.[13] He also has aMaster of Arts degree in manpower planning, a post-graduate diploma in international business, and a post-graduate certificate in finance fromAnglia Ruskin University, aMaster of Law degree in international commercial law from theUniversity of Salford and aBachelor of Arts degree with honours in business management from theUniversity of Sunderland.[3]
Ali served as project manager of theCaribbean Development Bank's Project Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Finance, and as a senior planner in the State Planning Secretariat.[14]
Ali became a member of theNational Assembly of Guyana in 2006. He was appointed to the portfolios of minister of housing and water[15] and minister of tourism industry and commerce.[16]
During his tenure as minister, Ali performed the functions ofpresident andprime minister on separate occasions. In 2015, thePeople's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) went into opposition during which time he served as chair of thePublic Accounts Committee and co-chair of the Economic Services Committee of theparliament of Guyana.[17]
Irfaan Ali was the presidential candidate of thePeople's Progressive Party (PPP/C) for the 2 March2020 general and regional elections in Guyana.[18] He was selected as thepresidential candidate for the People's Progressive Party/Civic on 19 January 2019.[19] His selection came at a time after Ali had been charged with 19 counts of conspiracy and fraud by Guyana's Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU).[20] Ali's lawyers questioned the legality of these charges, and claimed that they were political in nature and "trumped up".[20] At the time when Ali was running for president, the charges had never been brought to a full court hearing.
Immediately following his selection, Ali was accused of academic fraud, with opponents claiming that when Ali was in his early 20s, he had misrepresented one of his qualifications.[21] Ali was also indicted on 19 charges of other fraud for allegedly defrauding the state of over $174M between 2011 and 2015, allegedly conspiring with persons unknown to "greatly undersell" 19 plots of state lands at Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting inDemerara-Mahaica to current or former government officials.[22]
The trial on the matters was postponed several times. He was granted self bail on the charges. The lands, which were sold for $39.8M, are valued at $212.4M, according to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU).[22] On 14 August, the charges were dismissed.[23]
In his 2020 campaign for the presidency, Ali ran on a mainly economic platform, citing declining growth and increased joblessness under the Granger administration.[24] Ali committed to creating 50,000 new jobs over five years.[25] He has emphasized the need for transparency and adherence to globally-recognised standards for Guyana'snascent oil sector, which is expected to transform Guyana's development. Ali is committed to establishing asovereign wealth fund "protected against political interference", and to strengthen Guyana's ability to uphold theSantiago Principles and the global requirements of theExtractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
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In September 2020, in a joint statement with theUnited Statessecretary of stateMike Pompeo, Ali said the two countries would begin joint maritime patrols aimed at drug interdiction near Guyana'sdisputed border with Venezuela.[26] The agreement came as U.S. oil majorExxon Mobil Corp, as part of a consortium withHess Corporation, ramped up crude output from Guyana's massive offshoreStabroek block, a large portion of which is in waters claimed by Venezuela.[26] Pompeo and Ali added that "greater security, greater capacity to understand your border space, what's happening inside your Exclusive Economic Zone - those are all things that give Guyana sovereignty."[27]
In April 2024, Ali calledIsrael's actions in theGaza Strip "nothing short ofgenocide".[28]
Ali won re-election to a second term as president in thegeneral election held on 1 September 2025.[8]
Ali is a recipient of the following honours:
In 2023, theGovernment of India conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Award) to Ali in recognition of his contribution in "Politics/Community Welfare" and for "outstanding achievements both in India and abroad".[29]
In 2023, theGovernment of Barbados conferred the Order of Freedom of Barbados to Ali "in recognition of his strong commitment to enhance cooperation to achieve regional cooperation and collaboration to achieve regional integration and foster deeper social and economic partnerships particularly in relation to Food and Nutrition Security and for the upliftment of the people of Barbados and the region."[30]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Harrinarine Nawbatt | Minister of Housing and Water 2009–2015 | Succeeded by Ronald Bulkaan as Minister of Communities |
| Preceded by | President of Guyana 2020–present | Incumbent |
| Queen (1966–1970) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| President (from 1970) | ||
Current heads of state of South American countries | |
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