Five new faces for Ramotar’s Cabinet

Dec 06, 2011 News

---

 

-Edghill, Nanda Gopaul, Alli Baksh, Nandlall, Ganga Persaud are in   

-Robert Persaud to head newly-created Environment Ministry

By Leonard Gildarie

Five new Ministers have been sworn in to be part of the government’s new Cabinet and as expected it has thrown up a few surprises with a number of portfolios exchanging hands.
At the end of the mid-afternoon ceremony at State House, it was clear that there was no place for four Ministers in the previous Cabinet.
There was also an announcement of an entirely new Ministry to cater for the emerging oil and gas sectors and for Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
As was announced by this newspaper yesterday, there were no places for former Education Minister, Shaik Baksh; Tourism Minister, Manniram Prashad; Legal Affairs Minister, Charles Ramson and Labour Minister, Manzoor Nadir. Only Senior Counsel Ramson was present for that ceremony yesterday.

Yesterday’s event was the first public activity to be officiated by the 61-year-old Ramotar, a father of three and a Russian-trained economist who has led the People’s Progressive Party Civic as General Secretary since the death of that party’s founder, Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
First up to take the oath of office, was Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who has served in that capacity, continuously, since the PPP/C took power back in 1992, except for a brief period when he acceded to the Presidency on the death of Jagan.
Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who took over as the Minister of Housing and Water in January 2009, retained that Ministry. Others who retained their Cabinet posts were Dr. Frank Anthony, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports; Robeson Benn, Minister of Public Works; Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Clement Rohee, Minister of Home Affairs; Dr. Ashni Singh, Minister of Finance; Dr. Jennifer Westford, Minster of Public Service and Pauline Campbell-Sukhai, Minister of Amerindian Affairs.
Then came the surprises. Region Two Chairman, Alli Baksh is the new Minister within Ministry of Agriculture, a post that was previously unoccupied.
Former Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) and Chairman of the Guyana Post Office Corporation, Juan Edghill, whose endorsement of the PPP/C on the campaign trail, sent tongues wagging, is the new Junior Minister of Finance, taking over from Jennifer Webster.
Dr. Nanda Gopaul, a veteran trade unionist and former Permanent Secretary in Office of the President under former President Bharrat Jagdeo, is to be the new Minister of Labour, replacing Manzoor Nadir.
Nadir was the former leader of The United Force, which failed to earn a seat during last week’s polls.
Former Minister of Human Services, Priya Manickchand, will be the new Minister of Education, a post previously held by Shaik Baksh, whose tenure was mired in controversy. A trained lawyer by profession, Manickchand has been said to have breathed new life into a struggling portfolio with several new laws for women’s and children’s protection tabled under her watch.
Former Permanent Secretary of the Minister of Education, Ganga Persaud, will be the new Minister of Local Government and Regional Development. Persaud had also served as Permanent Secretary in this ministry at one point in time.
Former Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, is to head an entire new Ministry- Natural Resources and Environment. This portfolio will include energy, forestry and mineral rights and the LCDS.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy will move from the Ministry of Health to take the helms of the Ministry of Agriculture where he is expected to deal with burning issues like the Skeldon sugar factory.
Replacing him at the Ministry of Health will be former Junior Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran.

Jennifer Webster, the former Junior Minister of Finance, will replace Manickchand as the new Minister of Human Service and Social Security.
Norman Whittaker, who replaced Kellawan Lall as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development a few months ago, is the Junior Minister there under Ganga Persaud.
In his charge to the Ministers, President Ramotar warned that the challenges will be plenty but he will be expecting as much from them.
While yesterday’s naming and swearing-in of the Ministers will be a key move for the PPP/C in getting that part of the business out of the way, it will come with the very reality that the PPP/C may have to find ways to overcome the Parliamentary angle.
For the first time since acceding to power in 1992, the party has to contend with losing control of Parliament after securing just over 48 per cent of the votes.
The administration will face the task, under a minority parliament, to negotiate with the opposition Alliance For Change and A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) to pass key Bills like the National Budget.
Party officials have made it clear that naming of the Ministers is not the end of the process and the negotiation process to possible include opposition members in the government structure will be a priority in coming days.
While AFC has accepted the results and says it is open for talks, APNU is unhappy with the vote counting process and has called for a review.

---

---