Do we like them?

Do we like Irfaan Ali?

Our score: 5 out of 10. Real delivery for ordinary Guyanese and no campaign against any group turned up, but a court loss, unresolved asset questions and an oil-heavy path pull it to the middle.

Irfaan Ali is the President of Guyana, the first Muslim to hold the job according to profiles of him, and he leads the People's Progressive Party/Civic. He first took office in 2020 and was sworn in for a second five-year term after the September 2025 election. He runs a country that has gone from one of South America's poorest to an oil boomtown in a few years.

The biggest stoush on the climate side is his 2024 BBC HARDtalk interview. Pressed on Guyana's oil plans, he turned it round and asked whether wealthy countries had the right to lecture a small, heavily forested nation. Supporters cheered it as a hit on Western hypocrisy; a forestry academic wrote to Stabroek News pointing to what she called apparent misunderstandings in his answers.

The harm check is a mixed one. We found no words or campaigning of his own against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or people of colour. On the planet, though, he told the New York Times he sees an oil future for Guyana beyond 2050, and he dodged questions on industry taxes. Same-sex acts between men are still criminalised in Guyana, and the reporting we saw shows campaigners still waiting on reform he once talked about.

On the legal front, a High Court judge ruled in March 2023 that Ali breached the Constitution when he suspended the chairman of the Police Service Commission. The State said it would appeal, and we couldn't confirm how that ended. Separately, his opponents, led by US-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, have pushed claims about a Lamborghini tax waiver, which Ali and his camp reject.

The recent heat is about money and trust. In 2026 he accepted his tourism minister's explanation about her assets rather than call a probe, which critics called double standards. He also says every asset he owns, farm included, has been declared. Opposition figures also attack him over public servants' pay promises, which is political fire, not a finding against him.

The good stuff is concrete. His government ended tuition at the University of Guyana from 2025 and paid out a one-off cash grant to adults, funded by oil money. The opposition called the grant an election tactic, and where you land on that depends on whether you see handouts as relief or vote-buying. Ordinary families still got the money.