Profiles of Cabinet Ministers

May 24, 2015 News

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Brig. David Granger…………President

Mr Moses Nagamootoo……….Prime Minister
Col. Joseph Harmon…………….Minister of State
Mr Noel Holder……………………Minister of Agriculture
Mr Dominic Gaskin………………Minister of Business
Mr Ronald Bulkan………………..Minister of Communities
Dr Rupert Roopnaraine………..Minister of Education
Mr Winston Jordan………………Minister of Finance
Mr Carl Greenidge………………..Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr Sydney Allicock………………Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs
Mr Basil Williams………………….Minister of Legal Affairs
Dr George Norton…………………Minister of Public Health
Mr David Patterson……………….Minister of Public Infrastructure
Mr Khemraj Ramjattan………….Minister of Public Security
Mrs Catherine Hughes…………..Minister of Tourism
Mrs Volda Lawrence………………Minister of Social Protection

 

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His Excellency The President, David Arthur Granger, MSM, MSS

David Granger’s life is grounded in traditional Guyanese values. He was born into a large family with strong roots in the public service and grew up in the three counties – Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara.

He was educated at Queens College and graduated from the University of Guyana, where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. He also attended the University of the West Indies, the University of Maryland and the National Defence University in the USA.

David Granger’s years of military service are based on his belief in Guyana’s independence and territorial integrity. He received his military training at the Mons Officer Cadet School and the School of Infantry in the United Kingdom, the Jungle Warfare Instruction Centre in Brazil, and the Army Command and Staff College in Nigeria. After serving as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and National Security Adviser to the President, he retired with the rank of Brigadier.

Brigadier Granger made a significant contribution to national defence and public security as a member of several defence and security agencies. These include holding the chairmanship of the Central Intelligence Committee, co-chairmanship of the Border and National Security Committee and membership of the Guyana Defence Board, National Drug Law Enforcement Committee and the Disciplined Forces Commission.

He served in several public organisations and was elected to the presidencies of the History Society, Guyana Heritage Society, University of Guyana Guild of Graduates and the Guyana Chess Federation. He was also formerly a member of the University of Guyana Council and the Guyana Press Association. At present, he is chairman of the Guyana Book Foundation and a member of the Guyana Legion and the Board of Trustees of the Guyana Veterans Foundation.

Brigadier Granger has written extensively on national defence and public security issues. He received various academic awards which include the President’s Medal. His military awards include the Military Service Star for distinguished service.

Brigadier (ret’d) David Arthur Granger is a family man and is married to Sandra Chan-A-Sue Granger with two daughters, Han and Afuwa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prime Minister & First Vice-President, Moses Verasammy Nagamootoo

• Justice of the Peace & Commissioner of Oaths to Affidavits

FAMILY

Born: November 30, 1947 in Whim Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

Parents: Gangama and Nagamootoo Ramaswamy, both deceased.

Spouse: Sita Nagamootoo

Children: Angela Vashmini, Sita Maria, Adela Gangama & Moses Ernesto.

EDUCATION

• Auchlyne Scots School
• Rose Hall & Comprehensive High Schools
• University of Guyana
• University of the West Indies (Hugh Wooding Law School)
• Accabre College of Social Sciences
• Venezuelan Spanish Language Institute
• Fellowship – Allen White School of Journalism, University of Kansas

RELIGION: Christian

PROFESSION: Attorney-at-Law

POLITICS

• In 1961, entered politics at age 14, during struggle for Guyana’s independence.
• 1964, October – member Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) and People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
• 1966 – founder of National Union of Students.

POLITICAL POSTS

1976-2011 – Member of PPP Central Committee.

1978-2005 – Member of PPP Executive Committee.

2011–             Vice-Chairman, Alliance For Change (AFC)

CABINET/PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO

1992-2014 Member of Parliament.

1992-2001 Member of Cabinet under four Presidents (Cheddi and Janet Jagan, Samuel Hinds and Bharrat Jagdeo).

Senior Minister of Information; Senior Minister of Local Government & Regional Development with responsibility for Information & Amerindian Affairs.

COMMITTEES & BOARDS

Member of Select Committee on Constitutional Reform.

Chairman of Oversight Committee of the Select Committee on Constitutional Reform.

Member, Foreign Relations and Standing Orders Committees.

Council Member, University of Guyana.

1994-1998 – Director, Guyana Airways Corporation.

2005-2006 – Executive Member, Guyana Bar Association.

TEACHER (1964-70); JOURNALIST (1971-92)

JOURNALIST ORGANISATIONS

• General Secretary of the Union of Guyanese Journalists – UGJ (1970-1992);
• Founder member and Executive member of Caribbean Association of Media Workers- CAMWORK (1986-1992);
• Executive Member of Federation of Latin American Journalists – FELAP;
• Vice-President of International Organisation of Journalists – IOJ (1990-1996).

BOOKS

Hendree’s Cure, (2001 Nominee Guyana Literature Prize for First Novel)

Fragments from Memory (2015)

POETRY

Editor Anthology of Revolutionary Poems: “For the Fighting Front”

AWARDS:

PPP’s Certificate for Meritorious Service                 – 1990, Guyana

IOJ Scroll of Honour as Outstanding Journalist   – 1996, Vietnam

GOPIO Community Service Award- 2008, India

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Joseph Harmon.

Minister of State of the Ministry of the Presidency

Mr. Joseph Harmon. was born and raised in the West Demerara village of Pouderoyen and completed his schooling on the West Demerara before qualifying to do his ‘A’ Levels at Queen’s College. However, because of his circumstances he was unable to take up the opportunity and instead was forced to find employment. He worked for about a year in the Geddes Grant motor sales department before enlisting for the Officer Cadet course in the Guyana Defence Force, where he rose from the rank of Second Lieutenant following his graduation, to Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his retirement.

He applied for early retirement from the army as he wanted to do something else. During his years in the army Harmon took advantage of all the training it provided, including travelling widely in and out of Guyana, and in his later years he also made use of the opportunity afforded to officers to further their studies while still serving.

He completed his law degree at Cave Hill in Barbados before attending the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. On completion of his law studies he served for some time in the army’s legal services department, where he was the Commanding Officer and where he did some prosecution work.

After twenty-three years in the Guyana Defence Force and another 15 years as a lawyer in private practice, Mr. Joseph Harmon still remains an “active politician” and was a new face in the Tenth Sitting of the National Assembly.

In his early days, Mr. Harmon was a member of the Young Socialist Movement (YSM), the youth arm of the PNC, and at one time he was the Chairman of the Pouderoyen YSM group, later on becoming a Member of the Regional Executive of the movement.

During his army days, Mr. Harmon ‘eased up’ in his involvement in politics, but by 2010, he resumed ‘full scale politics and was the Returning Officer for the elections at the Party’s Biennial Congresses.

Mr. Harmon is married with six children. He served in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana as APNU’s Shadow Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Noel Holder

Minister of Agriculture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Dominic Gaskin

Minister of Business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Ronald Azam Bulkan

Minister of Communities

Mr. Ronald Bulkan. is the fifth of seven children of Rehannah Bulkan and the late George Bulkan, both of whom were school teachers.

Ronald, who was born in Supenaam on the Essequibo Coast, is a product of rural Guyana, though not exclusively so. He attended St. Philips Nursery, Bush Lot Primary, Yakusari Govt., Massiah Govt., Dolphin Govt. and Queen’s College. He has spent his entire life in Guyana, except for a nine-month period in 1979/80, when he lived in the USA while attending the University of Houston.

Mr.Bulkan is a co–founder (1983) of Precision Woodworking Limited, a pioneering company in value added processing in the wood–sector in Guyana. Mr. Bulkan and Precision were awarded the coveted Ernst and Young Caribbean Entrepreneur of the Year title in 2001, to date, the only Guyanese company to earn this accolade. He subsequently was inducted to the World Entrepreneur of the Year Academy in Monte Carlo in June 2002.

Although a businessman, Mr. Bulkan is no stranger to social and political activism. He belonged to the Guyana Human Rights Association (and was a member of the Elections Monitoring Committee in the pre-1992 period). An extension of this saw his being a part of the GUARD movement and he spoke on the platform, both in Georgetown and on the Corentyne.

He proudly recalls organizing a picketing exercise (together with Ian Lye) in 1992 against S.S Ramphal outside the Hotel Tower, when Ramphal was here spearheading hearings of the West Indian Commission. The exercise was meant to highlight the call for regional and international pressure to restore democratic elections and it was joined by the PPP, whose members that day included the late Dr. Jagan & Mr. Harripersaud Nokta. He was a candidate at the 1997 General Elections for the WPA.

The only organizations to which he has ever belonged to are the Queens College Cadet Corps, GHRA, WPA & now a proud member of the PNC. He counts among his heroes Nehru, Gandhi, Norman Manley, Martin Luther King, Mandela, EusiKwayana, Desmond Hoyte and Muhammed Ali.

Mr. Bulkan prays at the Redeemer Lutheran Church but is comfortable in any place of worship. He is married to Sattie and together they have two children, George & Nadia.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine

Minister of Education

Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine was born on 31st January 1943 in Kitty, Georgetown and is the father of Dr. Terry Roopnaraine and Alicia Roopnaraine.

He is a world class professor and instructor of liberal arts who has lectured at some of the most prestigious universities and learning institutions around the world, and is no stranger to Guyana’s politics and the struggles of the working class people of this country.

He has been in the front line of the national political movement since 1977 as one of the elite leaders of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). He served as a Member of the Faculty of the University of Guyana from 1976 to 1990 and as a Member of Parliament for a number of years. He brought to the leadership of A Partnership for National Unity (A.P.N.U) his vast political experience and the WPA’s unwavering commitment to the building of a Guyana of social justice and racial harmony.

He was educated at Queen’s College (Guyana), Cambridge University (UK), and Cornell University (New York, USA), and holds a Doctorate in Comparative Literature.

Dr. Roopnaraine was part of APNU’s Shadow Cabinet in the Tenth Parliament, holding the portfolio of Agriculture and Environment.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Mr. WINSTON JORDAN

Minister of Finance

EDUCATION

• MA, Economics, University of Warwick, UK, 1985
• B SocSc, Economics (pass with distinction), University of Guyana, Guyana, 1981
• Certificate, Public Sector Budgeting, Harvard University, USA, 1990
• Certificate, Budgeting and Structural Adjustment Management, Penn State University, USA, 1993

HONOURS AND FELLOWSHIPS

198119901992

University of Guyana Vice Chancellor’s Special Award: Best graduating student in the Faculty of Social Science.Commonwealth Scholarship: To pursue postgraduate studies in Economics at University of Warwick, UK.UNDP Fellowship: To pursue postgraduate studies in public sector budgeting at the Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard University, USA.Hubert H Humphrey Fellowship: To pursue postgraduate studies at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Penn State University, USA; professional affiliations and attachments to various Federal and State bodies in the USA; and internship at the International Monetary Fund.

WORK EXPERIENCE

SUMMARY

Over thirty (30) years working experience in a number of areas including macroeconomic management; economic policy reform, programming and governance; resource mobilization; public finance; public sector budgeting; policy design and analysis; and design of poverty programmes and safety nets.

Served on several technical committees and state boards, including:

• Presidential Committee on Economic Matters (1990-91);
• Presidential Committee on Public Service Wages and Salaries (1997);
• Presidential Committee on the Privatisation of Guyana Electricity Corporation (1997) and Linden Mining Enterprise (2003);
• Arbitration between the Government and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (1999);
• Arbitration between the Government and the Guyana Public Service Union (1999);
• Deputy National Authorising Officer for Guyana to the EEC (1986-92);
• Director, Guyana Cooperative, Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank (GAIBANK), 1987-92;
• Director, Bauxite Development Company Limited (BIDCO), 1987-2003;
• Director, Guyana Cooperative Financial Service (GCFS), 1997-2005.
• Alternate Director, Caribbean Development Bank, 1986-92;
• Temporary Governor and Temporary Alternate Governor to several Annual Meetings of the IDB, CDB and the IMF/World Bank Group;
• Chairman, Caricom Meeting of Officials of the Council on Finance and Planning (COFAP), February 2003.

EMPLOYMENT RECORD

• 2009-2015: Country Analyst, Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU)
• 2006 (February) – 2008 (June): Technical Coordinator, Public Management Modernisation Programme (IDB), Ministry of Finance
• 1998 (August) – 2007 (May): Budget/Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance
• 1997 (April) – 1998 (July): Budget Specialist, Office of the Budget, Ministry of Finance
• 1995 (July) – 1997 (March): Adviser in Budgeting, Ministry of Finance
• 1995 (January – May): Budgeting and Public Investment Specialist, Ministry of Finance
• 1985 (June) – 1994 (August): Director, Office of the Budget, Ministry of Finance
• 1984 (October) – 1985 (June): Senior Planner, State Planning Secretariat
• 1981 (October) – 1984 (October): Planner, State Planning Secretariat

OTHER WORK EXPERENCE

Spring Semester, 2011: Senior Lecturer, University of Guyana. Taught the course EM22EP2: Development Planning and Administration, in the Executive Master’s of Business/Public Administration Programme, a joint collaboration between the University of Guyana and the Commonwealth of Learning.

Fall Semesters, 2002, 2003 and 2010: Lecturer, University of Guyana. Taught the course DSC 514: Public Finance in the Post-Graduate Diploma in Development Studies Programme, on a part-time basis.

1984 (October) – 1989 (June):Lecturer (1984-87) and Senior Research Associate (1988-89), Institute of Development Studies, University of Guyana. Taught the course, IDS 502: Development Planning in the Post-Graduate Diploma in Development Studies Programme.

1993 (March) – 1993 (June):Internship, International Monetary Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Carl Barrington Greenidge

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Carl Barrington Greenidge was born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, and attended New Amsterdam Congregational School, first spending a few months at the Malteenoes Branch of Tutorial. He then attended Berbice High School, until he left for the United Kingdom to further his education.

Mr. Greenidge is a former Minister of Finance, Planning and Trade of Guyana. He has extensive experience at the policy, management and technical levels and has worked on public sector economics and agricultural policies as well as international trade and finance. He has provided distinguished service to his country, the Caribbean and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. That service has been in the design and management of Guyana’s Economic Recovery Programme (1988-1992) and the negotiation of the unique north-south cooperation pact, the Lomé Convention, inter alia. This latter pact aimed to alleviate the burden of poverty in the ACP regions which include the most trade dependent countries in the world and countries for which agriculture is dominant. He has successfully headed two joint ACP-EU funded institutions devoted to development and cooperation, and has, in the process, sat on both ‘sides’ of the Donor-Recipient interface.

Mr. Greenidge has also published four monographs, numerous academic articles on economics, and contributed to books on a variety of issues, including the political economy of agricultural modernisation, international agricultural trade negotiations and marine fisheries. He has been Co-President of the Joint Council of Ministers of the European Union and the ACP States.

Mr. Greenidge is a member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and served in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana as APNU’s Shadow Minister of Finance and International Economic Co-operation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Sydney Allicock

Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs

Mr. Sydney Allicock, 55, is from the North Rupununi, Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo, Region No.9 and is widely accepted as a pioneer of community-based tourism in Guyana. He was Public & Civic Contributions 2010 Laureate. Mr. Allicock is a representative of the Guyana Action Party (GAP) in A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

Mr. Allicock has articulated and promoted a vision of indigenous rural community development based on communal effort, wise use of natural resources, traditional knowledge and social systems, and equitable partnership with outside agencies. He has been a key figure in the development over the past two decades of the village of Surama, the North Rupununi region more widely, and Guyana’s indigenous communities, which account for nearly a tenth of the country’s population.

As a former Toshao of Annai, Mr. Allicock pioneered celebrations for Amerindian Heritage Day which was later adopted as a national event by the Guyana Government. Now Amerindian Heritage Day is celebrated in a different village each year, bringing both investment and national attention to indigenous communities around Guyana.

Mr. Allicock is one of the Iwokrama Centre’s key tutors for its Training Services Centre, where he has helped train hundreds of young Guyanese, mostly from indigenous communities, in leadership, survival skills, and eco-tourism development. His writing has been published in the distinguished literary journal Kyk-Over-Al and he has performed his poems at Guyana’s National Cultural Centre.

Mr. Allicock served in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana, with responsibilities for Local Government and Hinterland Development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Basil Williams

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs

Mr. Basil Williams was privileged to begin his Public Service career as a young lawyer and as one of the Legal Advisors of the late Founder Leader of the PNC. Later, he was to become Legal Assistant to then President Hoyte, from 1985-1988.

While in the Office of the President, he became intimately familiar with the politics of the PNC and the machinery of the Party. He went on to become a Vice-Chairman of the Party and a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Mr. Williams is also Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Party and a member of the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform. He holds an LLB (Hons.) Degree from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and a Legal Education Certificate from the Sir Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago.

He has served in different capacities in the public domain, including representing Guyana at the 6th Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in 1985; City Councillor from 1986-1988 and Secretary of the Review Committee of the Companies Act, 1986-1988.

Mr. Williams entered Parliament in 2003 and served in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana as APNU’s Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs and Justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. George Norton

Minister of Public Health

Dr. George Norton is an Ophthalmologist by profession. He was educated in the Republic of Cuba, where he graduated with a Degree in Medicine from the Superior Institute of Medical Science in 1984 and specialized in Ophthalmology in 1988. Dr. Norton is a Consulting Ophthalmologist and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Guyana.

Dr. Norton is one of the Vice Chairpersons of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC). He is also the Party Director of Hinterland Affairs. He takes a special interest in sports, youth and culture, and is strong in advocating the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples.

Dr. Norton entered Parliament in 2001 and has been a vibrant representative of Amerindian communities throughout Guyana. He served in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana as APNU’s Shadow Minister of Public Health and Disease Control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. David Patterson

Minister of Public Infrastructure

 

Date of birth: 4th May, 1967

Place of birth: Georgetown

Education:

– Primary       St. Gabriel Primary School (Guyana)

– Secondary   St. Stanislaus College (Guyana)

– Tertiary       Greenwich University (UK) Bsc (Hons) Quantity Surveying

 

Profession: Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Real Estate Appraiser and Project Manager

Over twenty – five years’ experience of providing quantity surveying, project management and appraisal services to both public and private sector clients in the UK, Guyana and the Caribbean.

Professional affiliations        

Royal Institutions of Chartered Surveyors – Member

Member of Architecture and Surveying Institute

Pastimes, hobbies: Off-road camping, sports, reading

Political service:

– Political affiliations: AFC – 2005 to present

Positions held: Member of parliament (2006-2014); General Secretary (2012 – present)

Public service;

-Positions held:

Past president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation

Past President of the Georgetown Dominoes Association

Past President of the Rotary Club of Demerara

Honours and Awards

Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary Foundation)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan

Minister of Public Security

Khemraj Ramjattan LLB (Cave Hill UWI) and LEC (Hugh Wooding Law School) was born on October 12, 1960 at No. 48 Village, Corentyne, Berbice. He is an eminent Attorney-at-Law, a fearless and objective politician, and volunteer youth organizer. His profession as an Attorney-at-Law and as a politician brings him in contact with people from all over Guyana. He is married to Sita Ramjattan and is the father of two sons, Divesh and Vikash.

“Prakash” or “Prak” as he is fondly known was born into and grew up in a grassroots, humble political family on the Corentyne, Berbice. His formal introduction to politics was through the People’s Progressive Party where he ascended through the ranks, from being leader of its youth section (PYO) to the position of member of that party’s Central Committee.

However, his futuristic way of thinking, probing mind and true commitment to democracy at all levels including at the level of internal party arrangements, brought him into conflict with the old dogmatists of the PPP/C. It was his vision for a new and progressive political dispensation in Guyana that led him to the formation of the Alliance For Change in 2005, the party he founded with Raphael Trotman and Sheila Holder.

This former State Counsel in the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions 1984 – 1988, and former President of the Guyana Bar Association 2003 –2005, has been a Member of Parliament since October 1992, serving as a Member of the Public Accounts Committee in 2001 – 2004, and in a number of other Parliamentary Committees. He has fearlessly and objectively represented his views on numerous issues, some highly politically sensitive, all in his quest for a better Guyana. His advocacy in many high profile human rights cases has given him prominence and stature in Guyana’s legal fraternity.

Mr. Ramjattan has participated in many national and international workshops and seminars; and contributed to numerous discussions and public debates on issues of mal-administration, good governance, undue political interference by the state, unprofessional and unethical behaviour at the Bar, among other topics.

He successfully participated in the British Council’s Young Lawyers Commonwealth Scholarship Programme in 1992 at the University of London. He is a former Editor of the Guyana Bar Review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Catherine Hughes

Minister of Tourism

Catherine Andrea Hughes is a Media Specialist with extensive knowledge of the Caribbean media and advertising environment. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree in Mass Communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Volda Lawrence

Minister of Social Protection

Ms Lawrence is an accountant by profession. She has a Degree in Accounting from the University of Guyana and a Master’s Degree from Gloucester University, England and is a Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA Level II). Ms. Lawrence is currently employed by the American School in this capacity.

Ms. Lawrence is a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). She also heads the Human Services and Welfare Department of the Party. She has done and continues to do sterling work among the elderly and with families who have encountered misfortune. She served in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana as APNU’s Shadow Minister of Human Services and Social Protection.

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