Ali’s “Thousands” in Queens Raise Questions as WIN Protesters Demand Answers

President Irfaan Ali used a diaspora meeting in Queens to paint a picture of an economy racing ahead, claiming Guyana has created 160,000 new jobs and built more than 5,000 kilometres of roads in the past five years. Yet those claims are facing questions over the absence of comparable national employment data and the visible condition of parts of the road network.

Ali made the claims Thursday night at Jericho Palace Banquet Hall in Queens Village, where he urged Guyanese overseas to invest in the country and participate in what he called Guyana’s “second phase of transformation.” The government’s Department of Public Information described the gathering as “hundreds” of Guyanese, while some other media reports have described the turnout as “thousands.”

Available venue information and event configurations indicate that it is a mid-sized banquet facility, generally capable of comfortably accommodating roughly 150 to more than 200 guests depending on the floor arrangement, seating configuration and use of available space. That makes the unqualified use of “thousands” difficult to reconcile without evidence showing how the figure was calculated.