High Court asked to order Jagdeo to produce Irfaan Ali’s academic qualification

Feb 08, 2020 News

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By Feona Morrison

The spotlight is now again on the academic qualifications of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali. In fact, citizens Dianna Deravinee Rajcumar and Phillip Marcus have filed an action in the administrative and constitutional divisions of the High Court.

They are asking the court to order Leader of the People’s Progressive Party, Bharrat Jagdeo, to produce the academic qualification of the party’s presidential candidate, Ali, for their perusal.
As a basis for their applications, the citizens through their Attorney-at-law Stephen Lewis contend that consequent to their constitutional right to vote, they have a right to information on the candidates for the upcoming general and regional elections.
Against this backdrop, they say they are entitled to know the educational antecedents of the candidates to access, process and interpret along other with information, before deciding to vote for them.
According to them, “As persons, intending to exercise their right to vote [they] are entitled to be privy to facts giving insight in the candidate’s capacity and suitably for acting as a President, Parliamentarian or a legislator including details of his/her life educational qualifications.”
In light of the foregoing, they are seeking a declaration that they are entitled to know the qualifications of Ali, and for
Jagdeo to produce the first degree certificate and transcripts for any first degree conferred on Ali.
They are also asking for information on the name of the university from which Ali obtained the first degree, as well as information concerning the nature of the study completed in relation to the first degree.

They also want to be privy to information setting out whether Ali was issued with a Certificate of Graduation, which states that it was issued by the Business College, West Demerara Chamber of Commerce and information on whether any studies at the College led to him obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Planning.
Furthermore, they want a copy of any transcript issued by the Business College, West Demerara Chamber in respect of the Bachelor of Arts in Planning; information on whether any degree was obtained by Ali from the University of Sunderland; a copy of the certificate of any said degree from that university along with a transcripts to any degree obtained by Ali from that university.
Should the court rule in their favour, Rajcumar and Marcus are asking that the documents be produced within seven days from when the court’s order is handed down.
NO DECLARATION
The citizens are arguing that GECOM, the second named defendant in their action, is empowered with the responsibility to exercise general direction and supervision over the registration of the electors and the administrative conduct of elections of member of the National Assembly.
In this regard, they say that GECOM has the responsibility to take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provision of the Constitution or any Act of Parliament and therefore has the authority to require information from and in relation to candidates.
They say that a List of Candidates for election may be submitted by the Representative of the List, in this case Jagdeo, and submitted to the Chief Election Officer.
And that List of Candidates shall be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration by each person named on that list of his qualifications and consent made before a Justice of the Peace or other Person authorised to administer the Oaths.
As far as they know, no such declaration was made by Ali, who appears in the List of Candidates submitted by the PPP. According to them, their constitutional rights to vote and to freedom of expression are likely to be breached if Jagdeo and GECOM fail and/or neglect to provide the information on the educational antecedents of Ali.
INTENSE SCRUTINY
In another section of the media, Ali was reported in 2014 as saying: “I am a project Management Professional (PMP). I hold a first degree in International Business; Post graduate diploma in International Business; Graduate Certificate from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in HR Planning; Master’s from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi (India)…”
However, last year, his academic qualifications were a subject of intense scrutiny as reports surfaced of them being fake. Ali has to date stood behind his qualifications saying that all of his “real” certificates, diplomas and degree are available to the public.
The Coalition Government has been making a mockery of Ali’s qualification, specifically President David Granger.
Last year October, Ali was listed as a graduand of a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the West Indies campus in St. Augustine, Trinidad.
19 FRAUD CHARGES
Ali is currently facing 19 fraud charges for allegedly depriving the state of millions of dollars when he sold State lands way below the market value to high-ranking public officials, including Jagdeo. This newspapers had previously reported that the lands worth $214M were sold for a meager $39M by Ali during his tenure as Minister of Housing under the PPP government.
The charges against Ali state that between the period 2011 and 2015, he conspired with persons unknown to defraud the Government, when he acted recklessly by selling 19 plots of state lands at Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara. He was not required to plead to the charges and has been released on self bail.
The presidential hopeful has moved to the Court of Appeal in a bid to have the charges quashed; the court is set to render a ruling soon. Ali moved to the appellate court after the High Court dismissed a similar application filed by his lawyers.

 

 

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