Former Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud has endorsed People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali to lead the next Government.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Persaud described Ali as a “young brilliant person…and I honestly believe that he will do very well as president.”
“And today I am saying this, I will support the PPP,” Persaud added.
He noted that Ali served in the Ministry of Finance and showed his intelligence during his tenure as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committtee (PAC) which is charged with examining the audited accounts as presented in the Auditor General’s Report and has also “expressed remorse” for some of the things which occurred during his tenure as Housing Minister.
Questions were raised about Ali’s qualifications but Persaud believes the PPP Presidential Candidate’s achievement of his PhD has settled those qualms.
“They questioned him about his qualifications…the world was watching. Irfaan Ali collect his PhD, he did not get an honorary PhD, he worked to have a PhD,” Persaud said.
One year ago no December 21, 2018, Persaud voted against his own Government on a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) and fled to Canada where he also has citizenship. Despite many court challenges, the motion was deemed validly passed, significantly reducing the powers of the APNU+AFC Government and forcing the President to call elections. Those elections are set for March 2, 2020.
The police in January 2019 launched an investigation into allegations of bribery and movement of gold by the former Parliamentarian but to date have not found any evidence to support the claim.
Several gold miners were questioned but recently, Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan said there is need for more eyewitnesses to step forward to continue the probe.
