PPP/C presidential candidate Irfaan Ali still faces questions over his academic credentials as there is still no evidence that the school that provided him with a transcript for entry into an Indian university on a Government of Guyana scholarship was ever accredited here.
After recently declaring that he had made all his transcripts and certificates public on his Facebook page, Ali has said that he has no further comments on the matter.
“If you go on my Facebook page, I don’t know if it is still there, I shared, as I said, all my certificates. There are many, many certificates …they all have credits for them. What is out there, I stand by and this is all I have to say on the matter,” Ali told his first press conference since his election as the party’s presidential candidate.
On Ali’s Facebook page, no photographs or any other material related to his credentials were found by this newspaper.
Stabroek News was shown four certificates by Ali on April 10th after several requests for an interview and has been seeking to independently verify their authenticity.
However, still not clear is how Ali gained entry into a Master’s programme in 2002. There have been allegations that a transcript issued by a school, identified as the Chamber Busi-ness School on the West Bank of Demerara, was used for his entry.
That transcript was provided by businessman Joshua Safeek.
Checks by Stabroek News at the National Accreditation Council found no records at that body of the school’s existence.
Stabroek News also visited the West Coast of Demerara but hours of searches and enquiries could find no evidence of the Chamber Business School. None of persons in the homes or business places visited from Vreed-en-Hoop to Tuschen had heard of the school and some older residents laughed when asked about it.
Safeek’s Lot 1 Ruimzigt office was also visited but an employee there said that he was unavailable. She enquired about the purpose of this newspaper’s visit and after being told, she informed that Safeek had “already issued a statement on the matter.” She took the name and contact number of the reporter and said that they would contact the newspaper but they never did.
The statement referred to was one Safeek issued in January, following the release of Ali’s purported certificates and news reports by the Prime News and Kaieteur News about allegations that some were questionable.
“I Joshua Safeek was the first Chairman of the West Demerara Essequibo and Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. from the period 2000-2004. One of the [programmes] was dedicated to facilitate the continuing education of students residing on the West Coast of Demerara. This initiative was consolidated in the registering of the Chamber Business School Certificate No.61001 on the 10th January 2001,” he said in the statement.
“The Business School was appointed to act as proctor for accredited universities and colleges. During my Chairmanship, over 200 students were facilitated through the Chamber Business School,” he added, while adding that many of the beneficiaries are now successful business persons, agriculturalists and professionals.
Pressed to answer what was the baseline qualification he had used for admission to the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, India, Ali had refused to answer and became flustered, repeating that he has made all his qualifications public.
Former PPP/C Minister of Labour Nanda Gopaul came to Ali’s defence in a January 11, 2019 letter to Stabroek News, saying that he was Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry at the time of Ali’s nomination for the programme. “I was Head of the Public Service and Permanent Secretary, Public Service Ministry (PSM) responsible for training. I can attest to the fact that Mr. Ali was fully qualified and had the requisite skills and experience for his Master’s Degree programme,” Gopaul said although he did not specify what those were.
Gopaul said that Ali did Guyana proud by graduating with “a high First Class Honours” and on his return to Guyana, he was elected as President of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Alumni Association and participated in several ITEC day activities hosted by the Indian High Commission in Guyana.
However, given that the presidency is the highest office in the land, Ali continues to face calls to address the questions about his admission to the programme
The four certificates Ali showed to this newspaper include one from City Unity College, based in Athens, Greece, from which he says he earned a Diploma in Business Administration, by completing an online professional course in 2002. He also produced a letter from the College which said, “We hereby verify that Mohamed Irfaan Ali was a registered student with the City Unity College during the period 16th October 2000 to 29th July 2002 through online distance learning.”
“In 2002, Mohamed Irfaan Ali completed a Higher Diploma in Business Administration graduating with grade point 82/100,” it added. This is ostensibly the certificate which gained him admission to the Master’s programme in India and was facilitated through the Chamber Business School.
A Master’s Degree in Human Resource Planning and Development was attained, according to Ali, in January of 2003 from the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, India.
A third certificate, Ali said, from the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom, was awarded to him in September of 2006. That certificate states that “Mohammed Ali” was awarded with a Bachelor of Arts Second Class Honours (Second Division) in Business Manage-ment. Ali has not said why he did his Bachelor’s degree in 2006, some three years after gaining the Master’s Degree
The fourth certificate, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Finance, from the Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), was awarded to Ali in February of 2018.
Ali pointed out that he was simultaneously pursing a Doctorate from the University of the West Indies (UWI), which he started “around five years ago” at the same time he studied for the Finance degree from ARU. He said he had completed his research for the doctorate programme but is awaiting word from UWI to defend it.
