Granger pleased with work of APNU shadow ministers

Mar 06, 2014 News

Leader of the Opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) David Granger, says that across the board he is satisfied with the work of his Shadow Ministers.
This comment comes in the wake of the perception in some quarters that APNU’s Shadow Ministers are not performing to the best of their abilities.

Leader of APNU
David Granger

In an interview with Kaieteur News recently, Granger said that his Shadow Ministers pull their weight as a team.
“We meet every Tuesday then they go to the National Assembly to represent their interests.”
He said that they work hard, “these are not Ministers with drivers and staff… I only have ten shadow Ministers and every shadow Minister does the work of two Ministers, take Mr. Joseph Harmon for example, he does the work of Mr. Irfan Ali [Minister of Housing and Water] as well as Mr. Robeson Benn [Public Works and Communication Minister].”
Granger expressed that it’s an enormous amount of work that his Shadow Ministers are doing with very limited resources. “We do a lot of our work… we have advisors, we ask questions, we pay visits. Every single day APNU is in the paper calling attention to some malfunction of the Administration and as a result of that the actual Ministers; the executive Ministers pay attention and they start to put things right.”
According to Granger, “if we go to Mahaicony and see a broken seawall you can bet they [Government] are going to show up there.” He noted that after the floods APNU convened a meeting of civil engineers, “If the Government doesn’t pay attention it’s a matter for the Government, we are concerned about flooding and we will mobilize civil society.”
Speaking to the allegations that APNU has Shadow Ministers who pronounce on issues that are outside of their jurisdictions, Granger articulated that in normal circumstances Ministers should speak to issues within their portfolio but sometimes when the Ministers are inaccessible another Minister would suffice to provide a perspective.
“I don’t think that is a major problem, the Shadow Ministers are free to have press conferences and give press briefings, there is no restraint, there is no GINA or NCN here, they can approach the media. I have every confidence in their ability to speak because we discuss all the matters. I don’t have ten meetings with ten different people; all of the matters are discussed here, so everybody knows what is taking place in the other’s portfolio, so I am very confident with the work they have done” said Granger.