THE NEW PRESIDENT TAKES CHARGE

Dec 07, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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A Cabinet has been appointed, is in place, and is expected to meet soon. The work of government is proceeding. There is a legitimate government in place and the international community so recognises this government.
Messages of congratulations are beginning to pour in and in the days ahead more such messages will follow.
The composition of the new Cabinet defied the expectations of those who felt that the President would not be his own man but would have been forced to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The new president despite having to pick his Cabinet mainly from his party’s list of candidates has shown that he intends to make changes from what was practiced before. He has used to great effect the tool of reshuffling, something that was practised only in a very limited way by Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Guyanese people in many ways had become tired of the same old faces in the same ministries. And one of the ways in which governments try to counter this effect is by constantly reshuffling their Cabinets. Cabinet reshuffles were however far and apart in Guyana under the previous president and the people were thus duly tired of the same old faces in the same old posts.
The new president has moved decisively to shuffle around many of those ministers who were retained from the last Cabinet. The former health minister has been reshuffled to the ministry of Agriculture where and the former minister in that ministry has been given a new ministry called Ministry of Natural Resources and Environemnt. The former minister of Human Services is now Minister of Education and the junior finance minister takes her place. The former minister of Labour has been surprisingly replaced by the former permanent secretary within the Office of the President.
But what was really interesting was the appointment of new ministers to the Ministry of Local Government and a minister within the Ministry of Agriculture. Both of the individuals named have been long-standing members of the executive committee of the ruling People’s Progressive Party and their surprising elevation suggests that the new president intends to ensure that the party has a greater say and role within the Cabinet and government.
One of the criticisms that had bedeviled the outgoing president was that the party had effectively become marginalized from the government. In fact, a number of leading members of the party found themselves at odds with the government. It is now clear from the Cabinet appointments that have been made that the new president is intent on giving a greater role to his party colleagues.
There have also been other positive signals. Firstly, unlike what took place in the past, this year’s Cabinet was quickly appointed. There was no long-winded process and this indicates that the new president is firmly in command and must have given prior thought to his appointments. The second thing of note is the appointment of a minister within the Ministry of Finance to deal with issues of procurement. This is as good an indication as any that the president is placing strong emphasis on greater transparency and accountability in the procurement process. This move is bound to enjoy public and political confidence across the political divide.
The new president has also moved quickly to reach out to the opposition. Even before he was sworn in he had met with the leader of APNU and the AFC. He has since met again with the leader of APNU and this is a good sign. It shows that he is not timid about meeting with the opposition, and from this perspective alone, relations between the government and the opposition parties are going to be different than they were under his predecessor, who had indicated that the building of trust was crucial to political cooperation. The new president is not sitting back and waiting for this trust to be developed. He is actively promoting this trust by meeting with the opposition parties. This is a very positive development.
In the end, what the people of Guyana want to see most is our leaders working together. The people of Guyana are not unrealistic. They do not expect for agreement to be reached on every single issue. They know that there will be many areas of disagreement, but they are pleased at least when they see a commitment to work together, and therefore they are pleased when they witness our leaders speaking to each other.
There are still many areas in which changes will have to take place. But already the new president is demonstrating that he has taken charge and is going to do things his way, and that way is noticeably different from his predecessor.

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