Nine new ministers were yesterday appointed for the new APNU+AFC administration and there is at least one still to be sworn in, which would swell the number to 25, but President David Granger said the junior appointees would be understudying their seniors.
Leading the nine who were sworn in yesterday at the Ministry of the Presidency was AFC leader and attorney Khemraj Ramjattan, who was appointed second vice-president and Minister of Public Security. Noel Holder, an AFC member and widower of the AFC co-founder Sheila Holder, was sworn as Minister of Agriculture. Hans Dominic Gaskin, businessman and a member of the AFC and also son-in-law of President Granger, was appointed Minister of Business.
APNU’s Sydney Allicock, who comes from the Guyana Action Party (GAP) which now a partner in APNU, was sworn in as Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs with Valerie Garrido-Lowe, a member of AFC, appointed as the junior minister.
Former Speaker, attorney and AFC co-founder Raphael Trotman was sworn in as Minister of Governance. Former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix was sworn in as Minister of Citizenship. Both of these ministries are new.
Jaipaul Sharma, of the Justice For All Party which is another partner in APNU, was sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Finance. Keith Scott, leader of the National Front Alliance, which is also a partner in APNU, was sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Infrastructure. There are already two ministers-David Patterson and Annette Ferguson-in that ministry. The APNU’s Dawn Hastings is expected to be sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibilities for housing and water.
At the swearing in ceremony, Granger said his government is determined to bring good governance back to Guyana. “We are determined to have a cabinet which is committed to national unity, we are determined to have a cabinet which is committed to efficiency and transparency,” he said.
He said he has a group of men and women behind him who are going to transform Guyana and “provide a good life to all of our citizens.” He urged them to work together so at the end of the 11th Parliament five years from now they would be satisfied with the work they did and the efforts they made to give Guyana a better government.
Asked whether youth is adequately represented on the cabinet, President Granger told reporters he believes there is a good balance of experience, which cannot be faked and which is needed. He pointed out that there are only two persons—Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge—in the cabinet who would have served as ministers previously and as a result there is need to have persons who would have had other experiences in positions to lead the ministries. He said there is a significant number of junior ministers who are understudying the senior ones and “what you see now is not what would exist in a few years from now.”
“We have a lot of young ministers and we have a lot of female ministers too who will be graduating. We regard this cabinet not only a field to ensure that the government work is done but also it provides an apprenticeship for younger and other ministers,” he said. That is why “there is a pretty large number because almost every ministry has a junior minister.”
When asked to defend the number of ministers in the light of the fact that the coalition would have campaigned on having a lean government, President Granger said that there are various levels in the cabinet and one is the level of ministers. “The numbers of ministries ought not to exceed 15 [it now stands at 17 but two of these would be housed under the Ministry of the Presidency] and you should not be fooled by the number of junior ministers because as I explained earlier they are meant to understudy the seniors and in due course that greyness would be removed and you would have more junior ministers taking senior positions,” the President said.
The President was also questioned as to whether a meeting was held with the senior members of various parties that make up the APNU partnership and he said there has been none because of the “pace and pressure of other activities” but he added that one will take place by early next week. He said while he regrets the fact that no meeting has been held in the future, there would be a monthly meeting.
New Ministries
When questioned, Granger explained that the Minister of Citizenship would deal with immigration, naturalisation, registration and the status of persons who are citizens of Guyana.
“The intention is that from the time a child is born and that child is a citizen of Guyana there should be a registration process that would ensure that that child’s registration continues up to the point of death,” the President said.
As it is right now, he said, there are “slippages” and many children become 18 and reach voting age without having being documented or registered as citizens of Guyana. He said also said they are aware that persons coming to Guyana seem to be getting citizenship “very easily and we want to ensure that citizenship remains a prize that is protected by a state and we are going to be more efficient and that is why a special minister had to be appointed.”
“Citizenship is very important not only for voting but to ensure that the rights that we accord to citizens are protected,” he said.
Also explaining the reason behind forming a Ministry of Governance, the President said it would deal with a variety of issues, “which would improve the quality of governance in the country.” The ministry would oversee the observance of constitutional provisions, the convening of a commission to review the Constitution and to ensure that there is a stricter application of Article 13 of the Constitution that calls for inclusionary governance.
This ministry would be housed in the Ministry of the Presidency.
Asked about those government workers who would have been listed as candidates for the PPP/C and campaigned during the elections, President Granger said the government would examine that on a case-by-case basis, but cautioned that a witch hunt would not take place. He said persons who feel that they cannot serve the present administration would be allowed to leave. He also said his government has “ways and means” to guarantee the security and confidentiality of information.
Extractive industries
Meanwhile, the President said that responsibilities for what was the Ministry of Natural Resources would fall within the remit of the Ministry of the Presidency as the governments look at the restructuring of all the extractive industries, which is one of the reasons the responsibility has been shifted to his ministry.
“We are strengthening our support here so that we can examine more carefully the agreements and create a new model so that the extractions of minerals, particularly now petroleum and gas and of course the traditional ones bauxite, manganese, gold and diamond, would be done on a more rational basis so that the benefits, the profits would come to the Guyanese people,” the President said.
Questioned about what the model would entail, Granger said there would be more scrutiny of agreements, protection of the environment and the attractiveness to foreign investment. He said government wants a more aggressive minerals policy but also to ensure the rights of indigenous people and all Guyanese are respected and the rights of the workers are not trampled on. The President made mention of the recent mining accident that saw some ten men dying and others injured and he said there is an element of lawlessness of the mining industry and the government wants to stabilise it.
The Cabinet
President David Granger
Prime Minister and First Vice-President Moses Nagamootoo
Ministers:
- Minister of State Joe Harmon,
- Attorney-General Basil Williams
- Second Vice-President and Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan
- Minister of Finance Winston Jordan
- Minister within the Ministry of Finance Jaipaul Sharma
- Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge
- Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnaraine
- Minister within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry
- Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson
- Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Annette Ferguson
- Minister within the Ministry of Infrastructure Keith Scott
- Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton
- Minister within the Ministry of Public Health Dr Karen Cummings
- Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence
- Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection Simona Broomes
- Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan
- Minister within the Ministry of Communities Dawn Hastings (still to be sworn in)
- Minister Tourism Cathy Hughes
- Minister of Social Cohesion Amna Ally
- Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder
- Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs Sydney Allicock
- Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe
- Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin
- Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman
- Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix
