Pastor Clarke’s Endorsement of Pres Ali Sparks Outcry Over Ethnic Discrimination and Church-State Collusion

A recent public endorsement of President Irfaan Ali by Pastor Exton Clarke, head of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Guyana, has triggered a sharp backlash from political commentator and former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government minister Dr. Henry Jeffrey, who accuses the Party of deepening ethnic divisions and co-opting religious figures to legitimise its rule.

In a blistering analysis today, Jeffrey challenged Clarke’s portrayal of President Ali as “an advocate for leadership based on morality, justice, truth, and equity” and “a God-fearing leader,” arguing that such praise ignores the political realities of Guyana and effectively aligns the church with a regime accused of democratic backsliding and institutional bias.

“Pastor Clarke, while you are busying yourself praising the president—and by inference the PPP government—your constituency is under severe all-round pressure from those same sources,” Jeffrey wrote, warning that African Guyanese communities are facing systemic marginalisation.

Jeffrey described the PPP as an “oligarchy” bent on political domination, particularly over African Guyanese social institutions such as churches, which he argues the government seeks to control by winning over influential religious leaders. He pointed to a pattern of behavior in which the party attempts to use religious endorsement as a tool for political legitimacy, citing previous controversial statements by PPP-affiliated clergy.

“Even if [Pastor Clarke] intends his comment about Dr. Ali not to be applied to the PPP, it suggests he may not understand the structure of political power in Guyana,” Jeffrey wrote, asserting that the real power lies with senior figures in the PPP, not the President alone.

The criticism comes amid mounting concerns from international watchdogs. The 2025 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) report lists Guyana among seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean undergoing “democratic regression.” Transparency International has also alleged that the Guyanese state has been “captured” by the PPP and its private sector affiliates.

Further reinforcing his claims, Jeffrey cited a recent submission by the Guyana chapter of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD-G), which brings together 78 African-centered organisations. The report highlighted a litany of grievances, including racial disparities in land rights, labour protections, and contract distribution—especially following the disputed 2020 elections that returned the PPP to government.

One of the most striking claims in the IDPAD-G report involves the Guyana Police Force, where African Guyanese officers are reportedly being sidelined in favour of less qualified Indian Guyanese officers. Despite having an African Guyanese Commissioner of Police, the leadership structure is now predominantly Indian Guyanese, leading to allegations of political manipulation and demoralisation within the Force.

Jeffrey also accused the PPP government of failing to propose or implement any affirmative action policy to address ethnic disparities. He urged Pastor Clarke to leverage his apparent access to the president to push for an independent “ethnic disparity assessment” as a starting point toward equity.

However, he concluded on a cautionary note: “Let me warn you: since it is the autocratic PPP that for political reasons over two decades has deliberately initiated or expanded the existing disparities, you would likely not succeed.”

The PPP’s strategic use of religion—particularly its engagement with the Christian Church, which itself holds a conflicted legacy of both enabling oppression and championing justice—exposes the widening cracks in Guyana’s ethnopolitical landscape. These growing alliances between religious leaders and political power brokers are increasingly viewed not as efforts to serve the national interest, but as self-serving manoeuvre that undermine trust and deepen social division.