As scrutiny intensifies over President Irfaan Ali’s sprawling Long Creek ranch, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Nima Flue-Bess has accused the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government of enriching its leaders while dispossessing ordinary Guyanese, pointing to communities demolished under the administration and families still waiting to be properly resettled.
The political firestorm surrounding the President’s estate has continued to gather momentum since images and videos of the expansive property emerged over the weekend. The ranch, estimated by critics to be worth billions of dollars based on its size, location and development, has prompted questions from opposition parties and members of the public over how such a property was financed. President Ali has acknowledged owning the ranch and has maintained that he has done nothing unlawful.
In a sharply worded statement, Flue-Bess said the revelation of the President’s wealth tells the story of a government whose priorities have favoured the powerful while leaving vulnerable Guyanese to fend for themselves.
“The breaking news of part of Guyana’s President accumulated wealth tells the story of why so many guyanese suffered and continues to suffer under this PPPC led government,” she declared.
Drawing a direct comparison between the President’s estate and the plight of displaced families, Flue-Bess recounted a series of government demolitions that she said uprooted entire communities.
She said the 2023 demolition of Cane View left nine families, including 20 children, without homes.
“Cane View 2023 graded down and community buried left 9 families homeless which include 20 children. The lands that were allocated to the farmers on the Highway was occupied and they were told to sell their animals and occupy a 100 by 80 plot of land and go look for work.”
She said the following year, another 17 families, including 72 children, were displaced after Hillfoot was demolished.
“Hillfoot 2024 graded down 17 families made homeless with 72 children. The lands identified for them to occupy on the highway initially was also occupied. The government took away occupied cultivated lands from farmers divided it in Half and allocated to some of the displaced families.”
According to Flue-Bess, the hardship extended beyond those two communities.
“The people of Sarah Johanna were awaiting land allocation while they were destroyed. These displaced families of Sarah Johanna were dashed on underdeveloped lands at Great Diamond and Wales. Displaced Families of Friendship are still awaiting their land allocation.”
She argued that those experiences stand in stark contrast to the extensive lands occupied by the country’s political leadership.
“All of this while Irfan and the other fat cats occupying extensive acres of land in Guyana. Wake up my fellow Guyanese the uncaring, covetous PPPC is grabbing and not governing.”
The statement is the latest broadside from the opposition since the disclosure of President Ali’s Long Creek estate. Opposition Leader and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Leader Azruddin Mohamed has called for the President’s resignation, arguing that he must account for the acquisition and development of the ranch and alleging that the Government’s proposed Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill would allow taxpayers to shoulder the cost of maintaining the estate after he leaves office.
The Government has defended the proposed legislation as a modernisation of benefits for former Heads of State, while President Ali has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and defended the development of his ranch.
For the opposition, however, the debate has moved beyond the ownership of a luxury property. It has become a broader indictment of what they describe as a government that has displaced poor families from the land while those in power accumulate vast estates, deepening questions about equity, governance and accountability in one of the world’s fastest-growing oil economies.
