In a video that went viral on social media on Friday (29th March), Guyanese President Irfaan Ali was seen lambasting BBC ‘journalist’ Stephen Shakur for virtue-signalling the South American nation about ‘climate change.’
Shakur tried to guilt-trip the Guyanese President over the recently discovered oil reserves in the country and questioned his commitment to attaining carbon neutrality.
At that point, Irfaan Ali interjected, “Let me stop you right there…Do you know that Guyana has a forest forever that is the size of England and Scotland combined? A forest that stores 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon? A forest that we have kept alive.”
The BBC ‘journalist’ then remarked, “Does that give you the right to release all of this carbon?” On hearing that, the Guyanese President snapped, “Does it give you the right to lecture us on climate change?”
“I am going to lecture you on climate change because we have kept this forest alive that stores 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon that you enjoy, that the world enjoys, that you don’t pay us for, that you don’t value, that you don’t see a value in, that people of Guyana has kept alive,” Ali added.
He is a member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and was elected the President of Guyana in 2020.
It must be mentioned that the Modi Government felicitated him with the ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Award)’ in 2023.
