Stabroek News
June 14, 2001

President Bharrat Jagdeo is expected to name an Attorney General and Minister of Tourism and Industry today.

Stabroek News has been reliably informed that the appointees are Doodnauth Singh SC as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and The United Force (TUF) Leader, Manzoor Nadir as Tourism and Industry Minister.

They are expected to be sworn in by President Jagdeo tomorrow.

With Singh's and Nadir's appointments, President Jagdeo will then have one other slot for a technocrat in his Cabinet and that is the Economic Development and Planning portfolio. Former PNC general Secretary, Dr Kenneth King was approached to fill this slot but Stabroek News understands that he has declined.

Nadir's appointment will entail his resignation as a member of the National Assembly as the Constitution now prohibits parliamentarians from "crossing the floor". His appointment too comes in the wake of President Jagdeo's assertion last week on the Corentyne that no member of the opposition will be included in his Cabinet.

Nadir who grew up in South Georgetown has a Bachelor's degree in Commerce. TUF contested the 1992, 1997 and 2001 elections under his leadership.

In the 2001 elections TUF gained one seat in Parliament.

The prospective new attorney general qualified as a barrister in the United Kingdom in 1958 and returned to Guyana in 1959. After a brief stint in private practice, Singh served in the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions and later under the Attorney General. In the latter, he served under three AGs - Anthony Austin, Dr Fenton Ramsahoye QC and Sir Shridath Ramphal QC.

In 1969, he returned to private practice and served in Guyana and the Caribbean. He was one of the chief prosecutors in the case against Bernard Coard and others for the murder of Grenadian Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, and prosecuted former Dominican Prime Minister, Patrick John for attempting to overthrow the government. He also represented Antiguan opposition politician, Tim Hector and was on the defence team for the Trinidad drug lord Dole Chadee as well as that of the Muslimeen leader, Abu Bakir, who staged a coup against the Triniadian government.

He was Chairman of the Elections Commission for the 1997 general elections and subsequently the lead counsel for the Commission in the Esther Perreira petition challenging the results of the polls. Singh came in for intense criticism for his "that is good" remark made sotto voce but picked up by the microphones when Janet Jagan threw over her shoulder a court order seeking to stop her swearing in at State House after the 1997 elections.