Not many Cabinet changes since 2001 polls
Stabroek News
June 20, 2004
President Bharrat Jagdeo is now more than halfway into the five-year term he won at the 2001 elections, but there have been very few Cabinet changes despite these being anticipated following statements he made that some changes were likely to be effected.
Observers believe the anticipation was unrealistic since the ministers whom the public expected to be dropped are members of the PPP central executive committee. And those who are not members of the committee are important members of the PPP's Civic component.
The ministers who have been dropped from the Cabinet since 1992 - Asgar Ally, Indra Chandarpal, Vibart De Souza and George Fung-On were neither members of the PPP executive committee nor prominent members of the Civic component. Feroze Mohamed and Charles Ramson SC asked to be relieved of their duties at the ministries of Home Affairs and Legal Affairs. And Bernard DeSantos SC whom Ramson replaced after the 1997 elections asked not to be reconsidered for health reasons.
Other observers make the point that Guyana is no different to the rest of the Caribbean pointing to Barbados where they say there have been few changes in the Cabinet Owen Arthur appointed when he first came to office. Instead what has happened is that there have been changes in portfolio.
They also cited Jamaica where the changes have been just as minimal with the top positions remaining relatively unchanged.
Observers also referred to the United Kingdom where there have been few changes in the Cabinet in the top ministerial posts save for Robin Cook and Clare Short who resigned.
Jagdeo took office in 1999 following the resignation of Janet Jagan, for health reasons and it was widely believed that he would have changed a number of the ministers he inherited, some of whom were there since the PPP/C took office following the October 1992 elections.
Among the ministers Jagdeo inherited were Prime Minister Sam Hinds, and Ministers Harripersaud Nokta (Regional Development now renamed Local Government), Reepu Daman Persaud (Parliamentary Affairs), Indra Chandarpal (Human Services and Social Security), Dr Dale Bisnauth (Education), Gail Teixeira (Culture, Youth and Sport), Dr Henry Jeffrey (Health and Labour), Clinton Collymore (Agriculture) Geoffrey Da Silva (Trade, Industry and Commerce), Satyadeow Sawh (Fisheries, Crops and Livestock), Clement Rohee, Vibart De Souza, Tony Xavier (Works and Transport), George Fung-On (Public Service), Ronald Gajraj (Home Affairs), Charles Ramson SC (Legal Affairs), Shaik Baksh (Housing and Water). Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar was appointed to fill the finance slot which Jagdeo occupied prior to moving to the presidency.
Following the March 2001 elections, Jagdeo brought in a number of new faces - Dr Jennifer Westford (Public Service) Dr Leslie Ramsammy (Health) Caroline Rodrigues (Amerindian Affairs), Doodnauth Singh SC (Attorney General and Legal Affairs), Rudy Insanally (Foreign Affairs), Dr Leslie Ramsammy (Health) and Manzoor Nadir (Trade, Industry and Commerce).
To make way for Insanally, a new ministry was created for Rohee the PPP central executive member and Da Silva was sent to Go-Invest; Fung-On was appointed to the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, where he stayed until his appointment to the Public Service Commission which he now chairs.
Navin Chandarpal, who has since resigned, was drafted into the Cabinet as Agriculture Minister and that resulted in Reepu Daman Persaud being left with only Parliamentary Affairs which now comes under the Office of the President. Sawh is now acting as Minister of Agriculture as well as carrying out his other portfolio duties related to Fisheries, Crops and Livestock and Chandarpal has reverted to his pre-Cabinet post of Adviser on Science and Technology. Mohamed also joined the Office of the President as an adviser when he asked to be relieved of his ministerial duties.
The other ministers who were not re-appointed to their pre-election portfolios were shifted to other ministries. Dr Jeffrey was shifted to the Education Ministry to take over from Bisnauth who was shifted to Human Services Ministry and given the Labour portfolio which Jeffrey had carried while he was at the Health Ministry. The observers also point out that some of the ministers who in the perception of the public may not be performing may be involved in party political work, crucial to the government's re-election chances at the forthcoming elections. They observe that Nokta and Collymore are the PPP's foremost grassroots activists.
Sunday Stabroek has looked at Arthur's cabinet following his re-election in 1999. The ministers then were Billie Miller, Mia Mottley, Dr Jerome Walcott, Reginald Farley, Elizabeth Thompson, Rawle Eastmond, Rudolph Greenidge, Cynthia Forde, Anthony Wood, Gline Clark, Rommell Marshall, Ronald Toppin, Hamilton Lashley, Noel Lynch and Glyne Murray.
In Arthur's present cabinet Toppin, Marshall, Murray and Greenidge have been dropped and Kerrie Simmonds, Dale Marshall and John Williams are the new faces.